Matt's Dinner - Italian Sausage & Pepper Pasta

Matt has really been into trying new recipes. Our favorite source is recipezaar.com. For today he had picked out a recipe for Italian Sausage & Pepper Pasta. It had 5-star ratings and was raved about. We made a few tweaks to save a bit of $ and use some of what we had on hand. Here's how our version ended up:

2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 1/2 lb. Hot Italian Sausage
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Green Bell Pepper
1 Large Onion (I don't know what color it was - probably yellow!)
3 tsp. minced Garlic
3 c. crushed tomatoes
2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp. Romano Cheese
12 oz. multi-color Rotini Noodles

(The recipe also called for salt, fresh ground pepper, grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese, and a fresh Basil leaf)

1. Remove casing from sausages & brown it through in a large skillet.

2. Drain the fat and drain the sausage on paper towels

3. Using the same pan, saute' the peppers & onions in the olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the garlic, but don't brown it or it will make the dish taste bitter.

4. Stir in the Tomatoes, spices, sausage & Romano Cheese

5. Cover & Simmer over Medium heat for 8-10 min.

6. While this is cooking, prepare the pasta according the package directions. Caution: You will want to cook this al dente (a little firm) - Do not overcook!

7. Once the pasta is cooked, combine it with the sauce mixture and Serve.

(You'd add the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese & bay leaf to top it).

If you want to read the recipe we altered this from, check it out at recipezaar.com. It's recipe #81311.

Matt really liked it - especially for something different than we usually make. Typically we're making a stir-fry for him of some sort. I'm hoping he liked it since he has about 4-5 more servings to eat! None of the rest of us will eat it :)