Fresh Tomato and Herb Sauce with Italian Sausage

Take a bowl full of plump, ripe tomatoes plus a handful of sweet basil and the light, peppery bite of parsley and simmer in a dry white wine along with Italian sausage and just a tad of red pepper flakes. Then toss in a batch of steaming fusilli and you’ve got yourself a great bowl of pasta in about 30 minutes!

I frequently buy in bulk to limit the number of trips to the market. I’ve almost always kept a well stocked pantry and freezer thanks to the guidance of the women in my life. But using up fresh produce before it spoils can be a challenge. And the tomatoes on my counter were in this camp! So I grabbed the tomatoes along with some fresh basil and Italian parsley, garlic, a package of Italian sausage – great to keep in your freezer – and a good white wine from the fridge. Then from the pantry pick up red pepper flakes, olive oil, a little brown sugar and some tomato paste.

This is a lighter, quicker version than our classic red sauce, with everything coming together in about 30 minutes. If you’re fine with tomato peels, just chop them and toss them into the sauce. But if you want to remove them, it’s really quite simple to do so. Just cut an “X” across the bottom of the tomatoes and slide them into a pot of boiling water. After a minute, transfer them to an ice bath to cool off. The peels will come off quickly and easily!

For serving, cook up some fusilli – with its quirky corkscrew shape it’s the perfect pasta to grab hold of the sauce. To finish the dish, stir a bit of the pasta water into the sauce and toss in  the fusilli. Let the pasta finish cooking in the sauce for a just a few minutes, soaking up those bright flavors.

Simply wonderful, dinner will be on the table in no time at all!

Fresh Tomato and Herb Sauce with Italian Sausage

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound sweet Italian sausage links

1 teaspoon chopped garlic

1-¼ pounds fresh Campari or Roma tomatoes, peeled* and chopped, about 2 cups

2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley, plus extra for serving

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

1 small can tomato paste, 6 ounces

¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ teaspoon brown sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra for cooking the pasta

¾ cup good dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc

4 cups dried fusilli

¼ cup reserved pasta water

Grated Parmesan cheese for serving

Warm the olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Remove the casings from the sausage and break it up in pieces as you add it to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally until the sausage is barely pink in the center, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Drain any excess drippings from the sausage.

Add the chopped tomatoes along with the parsley, basil, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, brown sugar, kosher salt and white wine. Continue to cook over low heat until the sauce has thickened slightly, about 15 minutes.

While the sauce cooks, bring a large stockpot of water, heavily salted (I use a handful of kosher salt) to a boil over medium heat. Add the fusilli and cook for about 9 minutes, or until almost tender.

Transfer the fusilli to the sauce along with ¼ cup of the pasta water. Stir to coat the pasta, cover and cook for an additional 3 minutes over low heat.

Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and Parmesan cheese.

*To peel fresh tomatoes:

Cut an “x” across the bottom of the tomatoes and gently place them into a large pan of boiling water.

Boil for 1 minute then transfer the tomatoes to a large bowl filled with ice water. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, remove the peel from the tomatoes.

Serves 4.