TLC In The Kitchen

What’s for dinner tonight?  After being snowed in for two days, dinner tonight will have to be whatever I have in the pantry and freezer.  So I made a version of a pasta puttanesca.  Actually, this was a 20 minute dinner.  In the time it took me to make the rice, the rest of dinner was done.  It was delicious!  I would usually have served this over pasta, but we had spaghetti last night, so we tried it over rice.  It was really good and looks how pretty it was!

Sweet Italian Sausage Puttanesca

Ingredients:

2 cups white rice or 1 pound pasta

1 pound sweet Italian sausage

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion – chopped finely

6 cloves garlic – minced

1 pound mushrooms – chopped

1 green bell pepper – chopped

1 can artichoke hearts – drained and quartered

1large jar roasted red bell peppers – drained and sliced

16 oz. beef stock

parmesan cheese (optional for topping)

If making rice, boil 4 cups of water.  Add the rice and bring back to a boil.  Turn down, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  Otherwise, boil enough water and cook 1 pound of your favorite pasta.

Cut the sausages into slices.  In a large skillet, brown the sausages in the olive oil.  Add the chopped onions and green bell peppers.  Sautee until the onions are soft.  Add the garlic and mushrooms.  Continue cooking until mushrooms are browned.  Add the artichoke hearts and red peppers.  Pour in beef stock and deglaze the brown bits from the bottom of the pan.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve the sausage mixture over the rice or pasta.

Traditionally, pasta puttanesca is made from whatever you have in your pantry.  Try adding anchovies, olives, basil or pepperoncinis.