This recipe is a bell pepper and italian sausage based pasta sauce, adapted from this recipe.
- 1lb italian sausage, loose or with the skins removed (sweet, hot, mix - your choice)
- 2T olive oil
- 3 bell peppers, at least two of which should be non-green. I often use all red, but other colors are fun too.
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 large onion, cut into 1/4" half-moons
- 1 large (28oz) can of diced tomatoes, or a can of diced tomatoes pulsed in a food processor a few times. I strongly prefer Muir Glen.
- 1T dried oregano
- 1/2c Marsala wine
- 1/8t - 1/2t red pepper flakes, to your liking
- 8oz fresh mozzarella ball, sliced into 8-10 slices
TL;DR: this is a standard "brown the meat, take it out, brown the veg, add the liquids and spices, add the meat back at the end" sort of sauce. It's not as intimidating as it seems. I just like breaking recipes up into small steps.
- Heat the olive oil in a large stainless steel skillet (tomatoes may revome cast iron seasoning) over medium heat.
- When the oil shimmers, add the sausage. Break it up into 1/2" chunks with your spatula, but you (or at least I) don't want super tiny pieces.
- Continue browning the sausage until it's mostly rendered and cooked through, then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Remove some grease if there's more than a few tablespoons in the pan.
- Return the pan to high heat and add the peppers and onions and a generous pinch of kosher salt once the pan is hot.
- Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes or so, until you get some char on the peppers and onions.
- Turn heat down to medium, add garlic, and stir constantly for 30 seconds until the raw garlic flavor is cooked off.
- Add the marsala and cook until reduced by half, scraping up any brown yummy bits from the pan. Careful, since the alcohol can ignite.
- Add the canned tomatoes, oregano, and red pepper flakes and bring to a simmer.
- Cook for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is thickened enough that it's not gonna be running all over your plate.
- Taste the sauce and add salt if necessary.
- Preheat your broiler on high.
- Add the sausage back in, and cook for another 5 minutes until it's heated all the way through.
- Take the pan off the heat and distribute your slices of mozzarella evenly on top.
- Run under the broiler for about 4 minutes until sligtly browned and bubbly, keeping a close eye on it to be sure you don't burn the cheese. You may want to rotate the pan once or twice to ensure evenness.
- Scoop out the sauce with a blob of cheese and serve on top of pasta, polenta, or other such things. We prefer larger pastas like Farfalle for this sauce.