Penne with Sweet Sausage Cremini Cream Sauce

Penne with Sweet Sausage Cremini Sauce

Recently our friend Susan turned me on to Sweet Italian Sausage.  I also recently enjoyed a sausage inspired pasta dish called Rigatoni alla Bergamasca  at  Trattoria Stefano in Sheboygan and I fell in love.  Trattoria Stefano uses Willow Creek Sausage.  I am going to have to figure out how to get my hands on their awesome local sausage.  I can't believe that I had never used sausage in pasta before.  I am really loving this new found favorite.  Honestly I can't get enough of it.  I like sausage but I am generally not a fan of Italian sausage, probably because I am not a fan of fennel.  After my meal at Trattoria Stefano and Susan inspiration, I bought a few pounds of Italian sausage and started to test recipes.  I really like this one and have tried it with less cream than this recipe calls for and it is still delicious...Matter of fact you could even skip the cream and it would still be delightful.  I don't add any salt to the sauce because as the chicken broth reduces, the salt becomes more pronounced.  If you are sensitive to salt you may want to consider using low sodium chicken broth.  I also try to use local ingredients whenever I can and that includes Wisconsin Parmesan Cheese. I use Sartori Parmesan not only is it Wisconsin made but it has won some prestigious cheese awards, including "best US Parmesan."  Bon Appetit!

Penne with Sweet Sausage Cremini Sauce

 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 box penne pasta cooked in salted water
• 1/2 pound sweet sausage cooked
• 8 oz cremini mushrooms, sauteed
• 1/2 cup minced onions, sauteed
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

  

Mushroom Onion mixture



Sausage draining on paper towel

Directions: 

• Cook sweet sausage in frying pan, remove sausage from pan, drain on paper towel and set aside
• In same pan sauteed onions and then mushrooms in sausage fat (sick..I know...delicious indeed)
• Remove mushrooms and onions from pan and set aside
•  In same pan add red pepper flakes, ground pepper, chicken broth and then cream and reduce until thickened (reduced by half)
• Meanwhile cook penne pasta and set aside
• Add cooked penne, sausage, mushroom and onion mixture to cream and broth mixture, heat through
• Add Parmesan cheese and stir until thick and creamy (add a little extra cream if needed)
• Garnish with fresh Parmesan and fresh chives 

  

Penne with Sweet Sausage Cremini Cream Sauce