I have made this so many times and it continues to
WOW me because it pulls together so quickly.
When you make amazing meals like this at home,
you don’t have to spend tons of money to go out for
dinner to get only a less-than-WOW experience.
And because I love pasta and don’t want to
completely eliminate this from my diet, I eat
it only once in a while and add a healthy dose
of sauteed veggies to add color, flavor, and
nutritional value. No guilt here!!!
If you don’t do meat, skip it,
but make this sauce and use it for dipping bread,
mixing in with vegetables, adding into any whole grain,
dipping raw veggies. It is sooooo good!
For me, a recipe offers guidance and suggestions –
it sparks my creativity and brings me joy!
Don’t be afraid to tinker and play,
make mistakes, try new ingredients,
discover something new about yourself!
The more you experiment, the easier it
will be for you to look at any recipe and make it suit a
variety of dietary needs.
LOTS OF OPTIONS HERE TO CHANGE IT UP!
use gluten-free pasta
omit the sausage or use a meat substitute
(I have not tried these but understand the quality and
taste of the products are improving alot)
I might sub mushrooms for the sausage here as
I’m not a fan of ‘meat-alternatives’.
omit the shrimp (’cause the sauce is amazeballs as it is)
sub plain dairy-free yogurt or ricotta for whipping cream
sub nutritional yeast for the Parmesan to add some umami
As this is simmering, I make the sautéed vegetables,
my ‘veggie medley’ where I use whatever I find in the
veggie bin. This is my go-to for quick and easy!
- 1 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
- 1 TBSP shallots, minced
- 1 tsp thyme, dried
- 1 14.5 oz can chopped tomatoes, juice reserved (can use whole tomatoes)
- 1/2 tsp chili garlic paste (Sambal Oelek)
- 1/3 cup whipping cream
- 1/2 lb any type of sausage (pork, chicken, etc) (removed from casing to ground or sliced)
- 8-12 large shrimp, peeled, deveined, halved lengthwise (may use smaller shrimp, adjust amount to personal preference)
- 8 oz any type pasta, cooked al dente and drained
- 1/4 cup Parmesean, freshly grated (can use packaged grated cheese to save time)
-
Brown sausage over medium heat in saute pan and set aside. Reserve ~ 1 TBSP. of drippings if any. If using lean meat, there may not be any drippings. In this case, add 1 TBSP olive oil to the pan and continue.
-
Add garlic, shallots, and thyme and stir, cooking for ~ 1 min.
-
Add tomatoes with juice, chili paste, cream, and reserved sausage and simmer uncovered for ~ 15-20 min. May add a bit of water if needed to loosen sauce.
-
Add shrimp to sauce and cook over low heat until shrimp are pink, ~ 5 min.
-
Add pasta and stir.
-
Garnish with parmesean and serve.
- may sub gluten-free pasta
- for vegetarian, omit the sausage or use a meat substitute
(I have not tried these but understand the quality and
taste of the products are improving alot - also, I might sub mushrooms for the sausage here as
I’m not a fan of ‘meat-alternatives’ - shrimp is optional but still make the sauce (’cause the sauce is amazeballs as it is)
- sub plain dairy-free yogurt or ricotta for whipping cream
- sub nutritional yeast for the Parmesan to add some umami
