Cheesy Sausage Pasta Recipe

Directions

Fill a large pot with lightly salted water, and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Stir in the shell pasta, and return to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until cooked through but still firm to the bite, about 13 minutes. Drain well.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onion, orange pepper, and garlic in oil until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir the crumbled Italian sausage into the vegetables in the skillet; cook and stir until meat is browned and cooked through, about 8 minutes. Stir in the undrained tomatoes and the heavy cream. Turn the heat to medium-low, and allow the sauce to cook until thick, about 5 additional minutes.
Mix pasta with the sausage cream sauce, stir in the Parmesan cheese, and serve. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley.

Reviews (106)

121

Jillian

Apr. 24, 2010

"This can be very good, but I have to say that 16 oz. of pasta is way too much here and the sauce needed a bit of work. I used half the amount of pasta (basically half a box of penne). I sauteed 1/2 ..." See morecup of vidallia onion in 1 tbsp. of olive oil along with garlic. I used more than a tsp. and left out the bell pepper because I didn't have any on hand. I used two 14.5 oz. cans of seasoned diced tomatoes and one 6 oz. can of tomatoe paste to give it some thickness. I added some additional dried seasonings (basil, oregano, italian seasoning) to taste along with 1/4 tsp. of red pepper flakes. I fried the sausage (crumbled out of the casing) separately and added that to the sauce to avoid any greasiness. I let that simmer for about an hour and added the cup of heavy cream at the end and let that simmer on low. I served this over the pasta, garnished with fresh parsley and topped with grated parmesan vs. adding the cheese to the sauce."

JULIECT

Feb. 9, 2009

"I made a few alterations. Doubled the recipe, using one lb hot italian sausage, one lb mild. Added an extra pepper and used half & half instead of heavy cream. After I had sweated the garlic, onion..." See mores and peppers, I added the tomatoes and pureed them with a stick blender. (My family likes a smoother sauce.) Because I had blended the veggies, I browned the sausage in a seperate pan. I surprised the heck out of my husband with this dish. He is not a fan of peppers in cream sauce. While I was cooking he was standing over my shoulder saying "don't do it, there will be problems at the dinner table if you do." Meaning that the kids (ages 6&9) wouldn't like it. Well it was a hit. Hubby went back for seconds, with a sheepish look on his face after giving me grief while I was preparing dinner. I'm glad I made a double batch, because now I can pull the extra sauce out of the freezer for a quick week-night dinner. "

Gina

Mar. 22, 2010

"This was great! My friends loved it. Only change was that I cooked the sausage then added the onions, peppers and mushrooms to cook - I don't like mushy vegetables so I also set this aside and cooke..." See mored the sauce alone. Added everything together and it was wonderful. Also if you like spicy - try adding some red pepper to the dish, it's amazing."

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