Sausage & Artichoke Pasta

Awhile ago I found a really simple but delicious recipe for homemade marinara/tomato sauce.  You can freeze it and have several different combinations of pasta dishes.  I had artichoke hearts and italian sausage so that’s what I used.  I also like eggplant, mozzarella, italian sausage, fresh basil with this tomato sauce as well. It’s super easy and versatile.

Tomato Sauce:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

s&p

2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes

4 to 6 basil leaves

2 dried bay leaves

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional

1) In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft about 2 minutes.

2) Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Saute until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes.

3) Add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves and simmer covered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. Sometimes tomatoes can taste a little acidic so if it does add some of the butter.

4) Let the sauce cool and blend until smooth in a blender or a hand held blender.

*This will make about 6 cups of sauce so you can freeze the rest for up to 6 months. I usually use about 1 cup for a 1/2 pound of pasta so you can freeze in portions if you want.

Artichoke & Sausage Pasta:

Ingredients:

frozen artichoke hearts, 1 package

Italian sausage (hot), 2-3 links

1/2 pound of thin spaghetti

1/4 cup of basil

1/4 cup of pecorino romano

s&p

1) Remove the sausage from the casings and saute breaking it into small pieces.

2) Cook the artichoke hearts according to the package directions.

3) Cook the pasta.

4) Reserve about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. Toss 1 cup of the tomatoe sauce, sausage, artichoke hearts, basil and pecorino. Taste and add more s&p if necessary.

5) Plate and top with more pecorino and basil.