Easy Sausage and Rotini Pasta Recipe
This easy sausage and rotini pasta dish was the very first dish my husband ever cooked for me when we started dating many years ago. I thought “Wow, this guy is a fantastic cook”, probably a keeper! lol Well, he was a keeper, but you don’t have to be a fantastic cook to make this dish. It is delicious and it is also simple. The best of both worlds, simple and delicious. You can’t go wrong. Now this isn’t the type of pasta dish you would want on your weekly rotation, it’s more of a guilty pleasure. That being said, we do have it every couple of months throughout the year. It might just mean an extra walk or workout that week! But I promise it will be worth it.
I might add, this recipe is very adaptable for those palates that do not like spice! As I have mentioned previously, I have one picky eater who doesn’t like too much spice. If I am making this for the entire family, I will mix 50/50 hot and mild Italian sausage. If the picky one is not eating (because he has a basketball game or other activity), then I use 100% hot Italian sausage. If it’s just him and I eating, because everyone else is out at an activity, then I make it with 100% mild and he loves it! He will eat the 50/50, but he prefers the mild version. It is still packed with flavor but just not the heat! So if you have young children, and they don’t like spice, start off with the mild Italian sausage and go from there.
Although this is a very and I do mean VERY simple recipe, it is not shy on flavor. This is a rich, creamy and indulgent pasta recipe. It is simple enough for a weeknight dinner but also elegant enough for a date night! It’s probably best not to have this weekly, but I warn you now, you may just want to! It doesn’t hurt the budget either.
Sausage and Rotini
Equipment
- 1 pot
- 1 skillet
Ingredients
- 500 g Rotini pasta noodles
- 500 ml heavy cream
- salt and pepper (optional, taste before seasoning)
- 500 g Italian sausage (spicy or medium)
Instructions
- Put a pot of water on to boil (don't forget to salt it) Once it's boiling, add pasta and cook according to package directions (el dente, 9-12 minutes) and while the pasta is cooking
- In a medium non-stick sauce pan add your sausage meat (remove from casings if you bought sausage links) break up and scramble-fry until done 7-10 minutes. DO NOT DRAIN
- Add 500 ml of heavy cream to cooked sausage with all the drippings (this is your flavor)
- Combine cream and sausage and stir continually over med-hi heat, until it's reduced by half. Taste for seasoning and if you feel you need it, add pepper and salt at this time (I usually DO NOT need any)
- Drain pasta, reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add cooked pasta to your sauce and combine. If it is too thick, add a bit of pasta water to loosen the sauce.
Notes
