Description
Want to kick it up a notch on pasta night? Make penne pasta with sausage and garlic white wine sauce. Roasted tomatoes put this over the top!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 box of penne pasta (1 pound)
- 2 pounds of ground Italian sausage (or 12 Sweet Italian sausages, casings removed)
- 9 roasted tomatoes, med-to-large (see note #1)
- 2 cups chopped basil, divided (see note #2)
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese (jarred shaker cheese)
- 1 cup fresh parmesan cheese for garnish, optional
Garlic White Wine Sauce
- 1/4 cup garlic, finely diced (approx. 7 cloves of garlic)
- 1/4 cup onions, finely diced
- 1 1/2 cups white wine, any kind
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
Slurry (for thickening sauce)
- 1/4 cup flour or corn starch
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- Don’t forget to watch my video with step-by-step instructions.
- You can make the roasted tomatoes a day before if you prefer. Refrigerate overnight. Bring to room temperature before adding to the pasta. If you make them with the rest of the dish, follow my roasted tomatoes recipe. Double the tomatoes and omit the garlic in the recipe. Allow one hour for tomatoes to cook.
- Fill a pot with water and bring to a boil to cook the pasta. Time the water temperature so that it’s coming to a boil near the end of the cooking process for the sausage and garlic white wine sauce. Be sure to add salt to the water – a teaspoon or so. Penne takes about 10-12 minutes to cook.
- Put the ground Italian sausage in a pan on medium heat and cook for about 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Use spatula to break the sausage up into bite-sized chunks. I didn't add oil here but if you think you need it add a splash - olive oil is fine for this. (see note #2 about sausage below).
- Finely dice garlic and onion and put in a pot with butter and olive oil. Cook on low heat for a couple of minutes until fragrant.
- While the garlic and onions are cooking. Continue breaking up the sausage into bite-sized chucks while mixing around the pan. You should be stirring the sausage around the pan throughout the cooking process.
- Once the onions are slightly translucent, add the wine and chicken broth to the pot and give a stir. Turn heat up to medium now. Let that cook about five minutes or so. It will boil slightly.
- While the sausage and sauce are finishing, chop your basil. Stack the basil leaves on top of each other, roll them into a cigar and slice it thin. My video shows this well.
- Slice the roasted tomatoes in half. I cook them halved, then after they have cooked, I cut them in half because it’s easier.
- Make a slurry and add to sauce. Add equal parts flour OR corn starch and water to a bowl. Mix well so no lumps. If you don’t want the sauce as thick as I made it in the video, add half the slurry, stir and check the consistency. Add more slurry if needed. Let the sauce cook another couple of minutes on low heat. Add salt here. Just ½ teaspoon should be good. Taste it. If you want more salt, add it now.
- Get a big mixing bowl and add the drained penne pasta to the bowl. Add the tomatoes, sausage and sauce next. Give it a mix. Add the grated parmesan cheese – the jarred stuff works best here. Mix again. Be sure to separate any tomatoes or sausage that are clumping together. Add half the fresh basil and mix again. Save remaining basil for additional garnish. Have a block of fresh parmesan cheese to shred fresh as a garnish – that’s optional, but it’s sooooo good!
Equipment
Buy Now → 
Calphalon Saute Pan with Lid (5QT)
Buy Now →
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → 
Buy Now → Notes
- The tomatoes came to about 5 pounds in weight – about 9 medium to large slicer tomatoes. I know that sounds like a lot, but considering this recipes makes 6+ portions and tomatoes shrink when roasted – all these tomatoes are needed. I made them the day before and refrigerated overnight. The recipe is here: Easy Roasted Tomatoes. Double the tomatoes in the recipe. I used garlic in the recipe, but you won’t need to do that since there is enough garlic in this pasta recipe already. I used the generic slicer tomatoes at the store. If it’s cheaper to use plum tomatoes that’s fine too.
- The basil measurement is two cups of chopped basil. This means after you have chopped it as shown in the video – you should have two cups worth.
- For the wine I used cheap white wine. As in, the kind you can buy in a mini 4-pack.