contribution post - the absurd bird

Sorry kids for the lack of updates, my computer decided not to let me upload photos and now I only have one contact in so lets see if I can type in a straight line shall we? THIS POST IS AWESOME. I LOVE JILLIAN'S BLOG.

Hello again Shiny Paper-lets...

This time I am bringing you a recipe! Yay! Jordan said that she is in a recipe rut so I am offering my services. I made this Monday night and it was pretty good. I would have preferred it on rigatoni pasta though so please try it with rigatoni instead of spaghetti if you can help it. I made this out of a family chicken recipe combined with something I saw Rachael Ray do on TV last week. If it bears any resemblance to a published recipe, it was unintentional, but really... how many versions of things can there be? Anyway... here it goes.

Italian Sausage and Green Pepper Sauce

Ingredients:

1lb Rigatoni pasta (I used spaghetti because that is what I had)

1lb Italian Sausage (mild or spicy your choice)

2 Green Bell Peppers

1 Onion (small)

3 Garlic cloves

1 28oz. can Diced Tomatoes

2 heaping tbsp. of Tomato Paste

1 oz. can Tomato Sauce (can be omitted)

1 12oz. can Olives (pitted)

2 tbsp. Italian Seasoning

2 tbsp. Salt

1 tbsp. Pepper

2 tbsp. Olive Oil

Obligatory Parmesan Dusting



Ok... Put the sausage into a large pan (whatever you want to make the sauce in) and fill it with just enough water to cover the sausage and put on the stove to boil. Once it boils, turn the heat back and let it simmer. Doing this will cook the sausage through without burning the outside first and incidentally make it easy to cut them up nice and pretty. Once the sausage is cooked through (about 10-12 minutes), pour out the water and brown the sausage in the pan with a scant amount of oil. Once they are browned, put them on a cutting board...



I know this picture is totally phallic and trust me, I am holding in a plethora of "that's what she said" descriptions right now...



Cut up the sausage at and angle. It looks prettier this way and also makes is easier to get each piece of sausage into your mouth (that's what she said... sorry... i have no control). Set this aside while you return the pan to the heat and build the sauce.

Dice the onion, bell peppers and garlic. Add them to the hot pan with the olive oil and let them cook until the onions are soft and translucent. Then add salt, pepper and sausage to the pan.



Then add the two heaping tablespoons of tomato paste



Stir the ingredients until the tomato paste is spread evenly and let it cook out for 1 minute. Tomato paste (especially out of a can) sometimes has a metallic taste and letting it cook out like this will help to bring out the concentrated tomato flavor instead of the metal flavor. After this, add the Italian seasoning, olives, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Stir it all together and then cover and bring to a simmer. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes.



About 10 minutes into your sauce simmering, turn on your pot of water to boil the pasta. When it is boiling, cook the pasta to the package instructions and drain. Your sauce should be ready by the time the pasta is done. This recipe makes a ridiculous amount of sauce so I was actually able to freeze about 3 cups of it to be used at a later date. You can make two pounds of pasta and feed an army or save some for another night, you choice. It would be really delicious on top of of a thick toasted slice of french bread or something too! Yum!

Toss with the pasta and then plate your serving. Dust the finished plate with the obligatory Parmesan cheese sprinkle and be on your merry way to a full stomach.



It was so filling that I only ate half of what was on my plate but the hubby and baby finished theirs. Here's to hoping that your family likes it too!! See you in two weeks!!