Recipe: Tomatoes and Sausages

Something I used to do was post some of my favorite home-brew and modified recipes. While I was concocting dinner tonight, I decided to renew that idea. Enter my first recipe blog entry for Gneiss, Tuff, and a Little Wacke.

The basis for this recipe is my tomato base. it originated as my basic pasta sauce, a quick and dirty dressing for whatever pasta I felt like eating. The nice part about it is that you can toss it together in under 30 minutes - only requires 15 minutes to simmer before serving - and it is much better tasting and better for you than the canned or bottled variety. The proportions serve two nicely with enough for leftover lunch for one.

The ingredients are as follows:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
• a measure of the nationality spice
  
• a medium onion (yellow or white), chopped
• half a red pepper, chopped
• a heaping teaspoon of minced garlic
• big can of diced tomatoes (not puree, not sauce, not drained)
• small can of tomato paste
• 1/2 cup of red wine (merlot is nice and optional)

In a medium saucepan, start the olive oil and garlic over a medium heat. When the garlic starts to crackle, add the onions and peppers, stirring frequently. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes, getting the veggies a bit softer, but not limp or burnt.

Add the diced tomatoes and juice and mix well with the veggies. Stir in the tomato paste to complete the tomato base. Stir in the spices. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to low, simmer for 15 - 20 minutes.

The difference in the base and its eventual use or in what I call the nationality spices. If I was just making basic pasta sauce with an Italian flair, those spices are 1 - 2 teaspoons of oregano and a bay leaf, which is what I did tonight. Spicy Italian? Add a shake of crushed red pepper. Want a south of the border taste, substitute chili powder for the oregano and bay leaf. More cajun? Add tobasco.

Note the measuring method shown - I have a perfect teaspoon palm. Also points out something I do obsessively when I cook: constantly wash my hands. No one wants to eat something made with dirty mitts.

Anyway, while the sauce simmers, I cooked up some fresh sweet Italian sausage (about a pound of links). The way I prepare them is by first browning them in a frying pan, then adding 1/3 - 1/2 cup of water and cooking them over a low heat for about 15 minutes.

When the sausage was done, I drain and blot them, then slice them into 1/2" slices and toss them into the sauce. I then let the whole concoction simmer for another 15 minutes to let them communicate with each other.

While they talk, I bring a pot of water to a vigorous boil and prepare the pasta. With a chunky sausage sauce, I prefer a big pasta like tonight's choice, rigatoni, a ribbed, tubular pasta. Boiled for about 13 minutes, it comes out al dente, firm, neither hard nor limp. Also toasted up some nice thick garlic bread to sop up the sauce - never ever leave a drop of sauce to waste!

The nice part of this tomato base is that it can expand or contract with what you have on hand. It goes just a well over rice or potatoes. My father always taught me (yes, my father taught me to cook) to be creative in the kitchen, constantly experiment with new ingredients and combinations, and listen to what your eating companions say. More importantly, see how clean their plates are when they go out to the kitchen or who kills for the leftovers!

Buon appetito!