This may be one the the simplest recipes I’ll ever write down. If you could even call it a recipe? It’s a two ingredient pasta sauce. Sausage and tomatoes. Yup, that’s it. Takes about 30 minutes, is pretty much all hands off, and well worth your time.
This is a favorite winter meal around here. You can make a big pot and just let it chill on the stove till you’re ready to eat. The whole house will smell great. I remember every New Year’s Day going to watch the Mummers all morning in the freezing cold. When I would make it back to my Nonna’s house later in the day with numb feet and my nose running all over the place, she would have this massive pot filled with sausage, peppers and red sauce. I would eat plates of it. It was the perfect thing to warm you up. So, I may be a little sentimental about the whole sausage and red sauce thing, but whether your grandma makes this for you, or you make it for yourself, I guarantee it’s gonna be delicious.
My recommendations are that you get the best sausage you can and the best tomatoes you can. You’re only using two ingredients here, so make em count. It really will make a huge difference in the final product.
Ingredients
Photo via Most Hungry
- 1 pound sausage
- 28 ounces canned tomatoes, crushed, pureed, whatever you like
- 8 ounces rigatoni, or your pasta of choice
Directions
Photo via Most Hungry
The ingredient list is simple and so are the instructions.
Brown your sausage over medium heat. You want it to cook fairly slow here so the fat starts to render and you get it nice and golden brown on both sides. After your sausage is nicely browned, add in your tomatoes. If using whole canned tomatoes like I did, squeeze em to break them up a bit.
Let your sausage and tomatoes simmer for 20 minutes. Check for salt. I typically don’t need to add any since the sausage is usually salty enough. But you make the call here.
Then toss with your pasta, top with cheese and eat up.
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