I caught a few minutes of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn the other night and was reminded of how much I love stories like that and The Grapes of Wrath. They really make me thankful for every little thing I have and remind me that even if I feel like times are hard, I really have it pretty damn good.
Every now and then I get an email or comment that suggests my sparing use of meat is unrealistic or unreasonable. It’s true, I often treat meat more like a garnish than the main star of the meal, but stretching a small amount of meat out over many servings is not only realistic, but it’s a reality for many people around the world (past, present, and future). We’ve all become used to half pound burgers, but for cost and health reasons, I prefer to use just a little and make it go a long way. That’s my culinary style.
This recipe is a good example of that technique. I used only half of a 19oz. package (2.5 links) of sausage for this entire pot of pasta. When sliced thin, the sausage medallions distribue well into the dish and every bowl will have at least a few pieces. Cutting back on the meat helped offset the cost of the peppers, and bulking out the dish with pasta helped keep the overall cost low and my belly full.
Want to go heavy on sausage and light on the peppers? By all means, do. In this case the cost would have been about the same (since the peppers were a bit pricey), but I happened to prefer the peppers.
The flavor of this pasta is sweet, a little spicy, and a lot of yum. Dishes like this also freeze wonderfully, so don’t be afraid to make a big batch. You’ll be glad to have single serving portions tucked away in the freezer for those days that you don’t want to cook!
Sausage & Pepper Pasta
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Sausage & Pepper Pasta
Servings 8Ingredients
- 10 oz. Italian sausage (hot, sweet, or mild) ($1.99)
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil ($0.02)
- 2 green bell peppers ($1.50)
- 1 red bell pepper ($1.50)
- 1 yellow bell pepper ($1.50)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.85)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 28oz. can petite diced tomatoes ($1.69)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried basil ($0.07)
- 1/2 Tbsp dried oregano ($0.07)
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (optional) ($0.03)
- 1 tsp salt or to taste ($0.05)
- 3/4 lb. pasta (rigatoni or your favorite shape) ($1.32)
Instructions
- Add the vegetable oil and sausage links (unsliced) to a large pot and cook over medium heat until the sausage is browned and firm enough to slice. It doesn’t have to be cooked through at this point.
- While the sausage is cooking, thinly slice the bell peppers and onions, and mince the garlic. Once the sausage is browned, remove it from the pot and add the peppers, onions, and garlic. Let them cook while you slice the sausage into thin medallions.
- After the peppers and onions have softened, return the sliced sausage to the pot along with the diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, and crushed red pepper. Stir to combine and continue to cook over medium heat.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta for about 7 minutes, or just until tender, but still firm. Slightly undercook the pasta as it will continue to cook and soak up liquid once added to the pot with the sausage and peppers.
- Once the pasta is finished cooking, drain it in a colander and then add it to the pot with the sausage and peppers. Stir to combine, place a lid on top, and allow the pasta to cook in the pepper sauce for about 5 more minutes, or until it has absorbed most of the liquid in the pot. Add about a half teaspoon of salt, taste, and add more if needed.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
Green bell peppers are usually much less expensive than other colored peppers, so I try to use more of them and less of the others. You can also jazz this up by using an Anaheim pepper (slightly spicy) in place of one of the bell peppers.
You can use any type of Italian sausage you like. I used sweet, but I would have also loved hot. If using hot, you may want to skip the crushed red pepper later. I only used half of this package and froze the rest.
Cook the sausage in a large pot with a little vegetable oil until it is browned and firm enough to slice. It doesn’t have to be cooked through at this point because it will be cooked more later. While the sausage is cooking, thinly slice the bell peppers and onion, and mince the garlic.
Once the sausage is nicely browned, remove it from the pot. Thinly slice the sausage. The thinner it is sliced, the greater number of medallions, and the more pieces you’ll have in every bowl.
After removing the sausage from the pot, add the sliced bell peppers, onion, and garlic. Let those cook (stir occasionally) while you’re slicing the sausage.
Return the sausage to the pot. Stir it in and continue to let everything cook. You can begin to cook the pasta in a separate pot at this point too… Make sure to not over cook the pasta, as you’ll want it to absorb some of the liquid after it is added in with the sausage and peppers.
Now add the diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, and crushed red pepper. Stir everything to combine and keep cookin’. (you can use marinara sauce in place of the diced tomatoes if you want a thicker, richer sauce).
Let that cook while the pasta is boiling, so that some of the liquid evaporates away (see how it’s kinda soupy at first?).
Finally, once the pasta is mostly cooked, drain it and add it to the pot with the sausage and peppers. Stir it to combine with the sauce, place a lid on top, and let it cook for 5-7 minutes more, so that the pasta can absorb some of the liquid and flavor. Add about a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, taste, and add more if needed.
Now it’s ready to serve! It’s especially good with a light sprinkle of parmesan cheese. YUM!
Just made dinner for my girlfriend and myself. Kicked up the SPICE a bit with a couple jalapeno peppers and some red pepper flakes. Delicious and affordable! Thanks!
WOW!! Made this tonight and everyone–including normally picky kids–loved it and went for seconds. “Awesome comfort food” and “add it to our repertoire” were their comments. Home-grown peppers decreased the cost even more. This is the first of your dishes we’ve tried, having just found your blog on Saturday. Our whole week’s menu is planned around your recipes, so I’m looking forward to what’s coming next. Thanks so much!!
I love how you show pictures with everything. It helps with newbies at cooking like myself.
I immediately went to the store and bought all of the ingredients I was missing after reading this recipe. I can’t wait to make it! I’ve been looking for new ways to use protein besides chicken breast and ground beef.
This is really really good! I was looking for a recipe to used up a bunch of orange and red sweet peppers and this worked great. My whole family (2 adults and 4 kids) ate it all up :)
Beth,
Just made this for the myself and my Keeblers (parents). Delicious. I had one pork and one chicken link sausages. Forgot to pick up onions. So, I used onion powder (do in a pinch, but wanted onions.) in the peppers. Used my homemade pizza sauce. Now, I see why you only used 3/4 of the pasta box. I used the entire box of pasta which does require more meat. Still tasty. and it freezes. \o/!
I give this one 5 stars!
Looks delicious. I always wonder about those Italian sausage links–
am I supposed to remove that casing before proceeding?
Not for this recipe. For raw sausages like this (not smoked sausage) the meat is just like ground pork or beef and won’t hold together in the shape if you remove the casing. Sometimes, if you want the end product to be in small pieces, like ground beef or pork, you can remove the casing by just squeezing the contents into the skillet and browning it like you would ground beef. Since you want nice medallions for this pasta, you should cook it in the casing until it firms up and then slice it into rounds. If you try to slice it before cooking it will just squeeze out all over :)
I don’t use that much meat either and I have a family of five. In fact, I was talking to a friend with 4 kids who said that she hates making tacos because it takes 2 lbs of ground beef! Huh?
I use just 1/2 a pound and then cram in the veggies and cheese! And, that’s with my hubby and one kid eating 3 or 4 tacos! The meat is just for flavor ….
although, I could live on your pumpkin smoothies for the rest of my life and be quite happy :D
This was so good. SO GOOD. And any meal that is delicious, healthy, relatively inexpensive, AND makes leftovers for both my boyfriend and I? Winner. I found your site a while back, and it has just been a lifesaver as a poor grad student who struggles with that eternal question of “what’s for dinner”. Everything I’ve made has been awesome but this was definitely a favorite!
Just made this over the weekend and it was excellent. Thank you for yet another great meal.
I’m so glad you addressed this meat issue because the main reason I love your website is how you creatively integrate meat as a side time and as a complement to the main portion of the dish.
I have no problem with people who like a lot of meat, because its yummy and I love to eat it took. It’s just not an everyday thing in my kitchen and home cooking. There was a time where I was making mostly vegetarian meals, not because I was a vegetarian, but because I don’t really enjoy cooking meat (kinda’ boring just standing there, looking at the same item) and I’m not too good at it.
My boyfriend wouldn’t complain, but he did say he wanted more meat protein and less bean protein. I won’t say I used your website to “trick” him, but I did use it to work around the issue of not having enough meat. I didn’t start cooking meat dishes, I simply added meat to things, like your recipe here. In essence, this is vegetable pasta with sausage added to it. Not sausage pasta with a side of veggies. It was a really nice solution to the issue, which left both of us really pleased.
One of the key points that I learned (and you spell it out here more than you have other recipes) is the way you slice the sausage in smallish pieces, that way you still have the same flavor in each bite, but you’re also getting more veggies which health wise are far more beneficial. I think that’s an important point to drive home.
I try to reduce/stretch my meat as well, but my guys fight me! Or they’ll pick out all the meat and leave me just veggies and/or pasta. But I keep trying. LOVE your recipes.
I think that we, as a society, are too used to cheap meat being readily available. Given that meat makes for a pricier meal with much fewer health benefits, I am all for recipes that use sparse amounts or none at all. (Heck, that’s one of many reasons why I like your site so much!)
I made this last night and it is SO good! My boyfriend already asked that we freeze the sausage we didn’t use so we can make this recipe again in a couple of weeks.