Sausage and Peppers Penne

I'm making an "oldie but a goodie" recipe tonight; Sausage with Peppers Penne.  I think the name was originally longer and more discriptive, but my mom wrote it down for me when we got married, and I have made it a few times since, therefore I don't remember what it's actually called anymore.

It's a really simple recipe.  The problem I have incurred is that it calls for Emeril's Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Pasta Sauce... which doesn't seem to exist anymore.  So, I make due with Newman's Roasted Tomato and Garlic Sauce, or what Emeril used to call his "GAAAAAALIC" Pasta Sauce, now boring-ly Emeril's Roasted Garlic Pasta Sauce.

Basically, you take cooked Penne (it says 6 cups... I used a small package, whole wheat) and top it with the rest.
Cook a package of Italian sausage, in casings, over medium-medium high heat, turning to prevent burning the casings.  I use a package that has 6 sausages, and I used the mild kind, though you could get sweet or spicy.  I think spicy would be great, but I wasn't sure if my daughter would eat some.   You can also get them straight from the butcher.

Remove the sausage from the pan (use a large, flat pan, preferably with a couple of inches of height to keep in the ingredients), wipe out the pan and add vegetable oil (to lighten the dish and make sure you have the right amount of oil, about 1 TBS -- this is optional, but will prevent it from having pools of grease on top of the finished dish).

Add 1 cup of green bell pepper (2 medium peppers), 1/2 cup (or 1 medium) each yellow and red peppers, cut into 1/4"-1/2" strips.  I would definitely not substitute or leave out a color, here.  All three have distinctive tastes.  Without the red pepper, it would definitely not taste right.  With too much green, it wouldn't be sweet enough.  And the yellow is sweet and pretty.  Also slice up and half one medium onion.  Put these in the pan and saute about 6 minutes; the veggies should still be pretty crisp.  Add 6 cloves of minced garlic (no, it's not too much.  I added 8, in fact.)  Saute another 1-2 minutes.  Add back the sausages, cut diagonally into 1-2' slices (diagonal helps with the casing being chewy and looks prettier).  Add 1 24 oz jar of some sort of roasted pepper/tomato a/o garlic tomato-based pasta sauce such as the one described.  Most 'normal' sized jars are 24-oz.  Simmer on low for a few minutes until everything is heated through and the flavors combine; don't simmer for more than 5-10 minutes, or the peppers will be mushy, which it VERY undesireable to the discerning palate.  The recipe says to add 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese at this point, removing from the heat and stirring until melted.  I don't really like mozzarella and it makes it hard to clean.  I just add a little bit of parmesan or a parmesan/romano blend, and top with a pinch of the parmesan (as stated in the recipe).  I don't think the mozzarella is necessary, but feel free to try it with or without.

For one cup of the pasta and 2/3-3/4 cup of the sauce mixture, it is about 450 calories.  I don't know the other specs off-hand, I just remember it saying "453 calories" on the recipe card my mom wrote out for me.  But I think that's really good.  It's very filling and it is warm and comforting, with rich tomato flavor and PASTA!  One bowl has a ton of veggies, but in my opinion, you should probably have a salad or something on the side to get the right proportion of veggies/protein/grains.

 One more issue with this recipe:  24 ounces of tomato sauce is usually 2-4 ounces shy, if you like your pasta to have some sauce cover it a bit.  So, you can do a few things: you could buy two jars and save the remainder of the second in the fridge; you could add some water, but I don't think that's actually going to make it better for you; you could add some stock... still not going to really help it too much, though it will loosen the sauce slightly; you could buy a tiny can of tomato sauce, the plain kind for sale by the chopped tomatoes, and add as much of that as you'll need.  That will add some extra sauce and loosen the sauce up a bit without compromising or watering down the flavor.  Or, you could just eat it as is, if you don't really want the sauce and the pasta to combine.

Overall, it's a great recipe that's low-calorie, satisfying, and it's easy and quick to make.  I suggest you try it some night!