Roasted tomato sausage penne
If you would have told me a month ago I would be getting fresh tomatoes I probably would have laughed at you because this has been a horrible tomato year for me. It started with 11 tomato plants (10 of them in raised beds and 1 little guy in a container on my back patio). Thanks to a cool and wet summer and the fungus it brought I ended up having to rip out three of the tomato plants and the rest received a massive haircut to remove infected branches. I was also swearing I was going to end up ripping them all out. However, it seems like nightly I am walking outside with a large bowl and filling it up with tomatoes. So thank you thank you thank you sun and warm weather for finally coming and saving my remaining tomato plants and making them extra delicious this year.
One of my favorite things to do with tomatoes is experiment with sauces especially if it involves blasting the poor tomatoes under a high broiler while standing by the stove perfecting my evil laugh as the tomatoes blacken and shrivel. I also have a strong hatred of measurements in sauce making and usually rely on the good old method of I have a cutting board full of cut herbs and well the sauce needs more thyme so toss that in.
Since almost everything came from the garden or the farmer’s market I have submitted this to Andrea Meyer’s awesome event called Grow Your Own (click here to read more information).
For this recipe you will need:
- 1 lb hot Italian sausage
- 1 onion
- 1 green pepper
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Couple pounds of tomatoes (I used black krim, roma, and some other variety I planted that I have no flipping clue what they are but they are big, ugly, and red).
- 1 cup of red wine (I used chianti)
- Heavy pinch of fresh thyme
- Heavy pinch of fresh rosemary
- Heavy pinch of fresh oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- Heavy pinch of crushed red pepper
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Penne pasta cooked to ale dente with some of the cooking liquid reserved
Roasting the tomatoes:
- Slice the top off the tomatoes and make an X in the bottom of that tomato
- Stand them up cut side down in a baking dish
- Cover with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper
- I also threw the garlic still in paper into the glass dish so that could get roasted with the tomatoes
- Throw under hot broiler until blackened and soft (about 5-10 minutes)
- Remove from the broiler, peel the tomatoes and garlic, and squish everything together.
Assembling the rest of the pasta:
- Over medium heat in a large sauce pot add in a squirt of oil and cook the sausage till browned.
- Remove the sausage and add in the onion and pepper and cook till softened (about 5 minutes) with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Add the wine into the pot and reduce by 1/2.
- Add the sausage, roasted tomato mixture, and herbs into the sauce pot and cook for a good 15-20 minutes. Make sure you taste occasionally to make sure you like the flavors.
- When you are happy with the sauce toss in the penne and stir around until combined. If the mixture is to thick add in a dash of the cooking liquid to thin it out. Personally I love a good a thick sauce so I rarely add in any of the cooking liquid.
- Serve and enjoy with cheese and basil!
dammmm dog!
I am starving now. Love the meat to pasta ratio, perfect.
Fresh herbs with fresh veggies and pasta are the clincher. Bet roasting the tomatoes will help to bring out some sweetness as we go into the fall/winter, huh?
Wow! That looks delicious, and so hearty! This is a little sad but at the same time kinda funny…over the whole summer, so far, I’ve gotten a grand total of…three tomatoes. I’m only a little jealous of your tomato plants. =)
That’s totally beautiful. I have had a similar problem with my tomatoes, mine are still green. I’m afraid they won’t ripen before it gets cold
waaahh.
I’m bookmarking this, I love penne and sausage and tomatoes and herbs and… well you get the idea.
I make something similar sans all those fresh yummy tomatoes! What a great meal.
Our tomatoes didn’t do too well this year. Sad! Great pasta dish!
Jeff it looks amazing; very similar to something i cook during the weeknights.
I add a few cubes of this http://www.woodsidecheese.com.au/goat-milk-feta/
(the one under the notes ‘tasting’ where it describes the marinated goats milk fetta.)
A couple of cubes of marinated goats milk fetta melted into the sauce adds another element to flavours.
If you cant find bottled marinated goats milk fetta, you can do it yourself. cube some goats milk fetta in a sterilised bottle, add some fresh red chillies, whole peppercorns and some other herbs of your choice and then fill & cover with a good olive oil. it’s divine and can be used in lots of different dishes to add a piquancy that no other ingredient can add.
I am glad you were able to save some of your plants. This pasta dish looks hearty and delicious.
Wow, this pasta dish looks fantastic…great picture!
This pasta really looks delicious! I love the basil on top.
I was getting ready to make a tomato sauce tonight, and now I wish I had taken some sausage out to thaw!
I’m planning on planting my FIRST veggies next year and wanna start with tomatoes. Any pointers for a beginner gardener? I love the ratio of sausage to pasta there! I hate it when it’s mostly pasta and sauce with a TEENIE amount of meat.
This looks awesome man. Roasted flavors of the tomato, delicious sausage and fresh herbs. Equates to an awesome meal and a happy man.
There is nothing like fresh tomatoes, especially if you have a good year. I wish I had planted some this year. We had a great summer. You made such a great recipes, yum.
It seems like everyone has been having the same problem with their tomato plants this year. My dads are just starting to ripen as well so I am looking forward to some homegrown fresh tomato sauce.
I always augment and adjust sauce recipes to taste. A few more cloves of garlic here, some more basil there, etc. It really is the only way to go. Great pasta dish, I may add it to the carb-loading repertoire.
My two tomato plants gave me three tiny tomatoes. I feel your pain. I harvested two of them and I’m trying to decide when I should pick it and eat it. Perhaps I’ll toss it in some scrambled eggs for breakfast tomorrow.
I love your pasta. I love sausage. I love just about everything in this dish.
This dish looks and sounds delicious! Great recipes!
I so love wonderful pasta dishes as this one! Just beautiful & so tasty!
MMMMMMMMMMMMM,…
Jeff, I was just like you, EXCEPT, I gave up on my tomatoes. It didn’t look like anything was going to come from them, months of nothing, not even any flowers!
Your pasta dish looks amazing, if I lived closer to you, I’d ask if I could come over!
That is one tasty looking pasta!
Looks awesome! With our backward-ass growing season down here, I’m looking forward to getting some fresh tomatoes from the garden in about 3 months.
[…] Roasted Tomato Sausage Penne from Jeff of Culinary Disasters (Indiana, United States) […]
So glad your tomatoes came back! You used them well, I say. This looks perfect! Thanks for joining us for Grow Your Own.
Cheers,
Andrea
[…] I opted for something with a similar feel that was a bit more summery fare. Plus, after seeing Jeff’s roasted tomato & sausage penne, my mind was pretty much set that I had to do something […]
Oh, that is one fabulous looking pasta! We are finally getting tomatoes too though there are an awful lot of green ones still on the vine.
This is the perfect way to use garden tomatoes.