Pasta with Sausage, Peppers, and All the Veg
August 11, 2019 | By Jeremy Scheck | 5 Comments
Can you tell I love pasta? Like many Collegetown Kitchen recipes, this one is more of a technique than a strict formula. Other than with the sausage, onion, and carrot; feel free to play around with the other vegetables and use up whatever you have on hand.
Contains meat, dairy, alcohol and gluten — but you could omit or swap whatever you don’t eat for something you do eat. To make vegetarian, I recommend adding Italian seasonings and red pepper flakes (as you won’t have the heat from the sausage).
Makes 4 large servings, can be stored in the fridge 3-4 days and reheated.
Pasta with Sausage, Peppers, and All the Veg
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 links hot italian sausage, (no, sweet will NOT do)
- 1 carrot, peeled and diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- Additional veg, prepped as needed and in small dice (such as chard stems, asparagus, corn, peas)
- Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
- 1/2 can (6oz) beer (such as a pilsner; can substitute dry white wine or chicken stock or vegetable stock)
- 2-3 tablespoons mascarpone cheese, cream cheese, or heavy cream (optional)
- Leafy green, such as chard leaves, arugula, spinach (optional)
- 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, white vinegar, or champagne vinegar
- Freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese; for garnish, to taste
- 1 pound short pasta, such as orecchiette or rigatoni
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of boiling water to a boil. Continue with the steps, but when it is boiling, add a generous — no, copious — amount of kosher salt.
- In a large skillet (cast iron or stainless steel), add the onion and olive oil. Cook over medium heat until they are lightly golden-brown. Use a knife to release the sausage from its casing and add the insides of the sausage to the pan. Discard the casing. Increase the heat to medium high and cook until the sausage is well browned and all the way cooked through. Use fork or spatula to break up the sausage into small pieces as it cooks.
- Add the pasta to the boiling water; set a timer for 2 minutes fewer than the package says to cook it.
- Add the rest of the vegetables to the skillet; sauté 2-3 minutes. Season with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Add the beer and let simmer 2-3 minutes until the liquid reduces slightly. While waiting for the pasta to finish cooking (if waiting), reduce the heat to low or turn off completely.
- When the pasta is ready, use a measuring cup or ladle to reserve around 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Drain the rest of the water, and add the pasta to the skillet with the vegetables. Add the reserved pasta water. Let simmer in the sauce 1-2 minutes to finish cooking through. Over medium-low heat, add the mascarpone and leafy greens (let the mascarpone melt and the greens wilt), then the lemon juice; taste for seasoning.
- Serve topped with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese and cracked black pepper.
Jeremy Scheck spent high school perfecting his signature cupcakes, making quiches and coffee cake by the dozen at a local bakery, and teaching cooking demonstrations at Williams-Sonoma. As a 10th grader in 2016, he began documenting his favorite recipes on a blog called The After School Bakery. In college, Jeremy learned to make 50 gallons of ice cream in the food science lab, how to prune grape vines in the teaching vineyard, the best way to milk a cow in Northern Italy, and why film photography is an art worth saving. As a sophomore in 2020, he traded blog photos for video and became a TikTok culinary sensation. Jeremy has been featured on the Today show, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, BBC Radio, People, and Access Hollywood, among others. Jeremy is a graduate of Cornell University with a double major in Spanish and Italian, and significant coursework in food science. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. Learn more about Jeremy.
Made this tonight! I threw in a bunch of veggies from my fridge, used chicken stock and cream cheese as that’s what I had on hand, and it came out great! I halved the recipe since I live alone and had plenty for dinner along with an additional serving to have for lunch tomorrow. A great and super adaptable recipe
This is so good and so easy. Used cream and Pilsner and spinach…. hot sausage is a must as Jeremy says…best sausage/pasta recipe I’ve found.
So good! This is the second recipe I’ve tried of yours. You make cooking fun and easy! Thank you!
I love love love this recipe I made it for my family the other night and it turned out so good! Definitely will use more recipes from here!
This looks so good! What would you recommend in place of the links of italian sausage- I can’t find them anywhere in Ireland. Would soft n’duja have the same vibe?