My two favourite cuisines are Italian and Mexican, pasta and tacos being my favourite dishes respectively. So how is it that I have yet to make a pasta sauce from scratch at home? In fact, I am ashamed to admit that the extent of my pasta making skills begin and end with a jar of pre-made tomato sauce. At this point, FreshPrep has become my own personal culinary institution and every dish teaches me how to cook from scratch.
The Tomato and Italian Sausage Penne with Fresh Basil and Lemon Green Beans does not use the iconic red tomato marinara sauce which I desperately want to learn as it is my favourite. Nonetheless, it is always good to step outside your comfort zone and give something new a try.
The sauce's robust flavour comes from the sausage which had various seasonings like thyme, garlic, pepper etc. Now what really made this sauce stand apart in my mind is the use of fresh Roma tomatoes that I coarsely chopped and then cooked down in the sausage juices. The coolest part - I got to DEGLAZE the pan with white wine! I honestly have only heard of deglazing with wine on the Food Network haha. So I felt pretty fancy doing that!
I will never understand why pasta comes in so many shapes and sizes, all of which have their own unique name. Unfortunately, I really do not enjoy penne as it gives me a mild case of trypophobia. Even the thought of penne noodles makes me cringe. But for the sake of staying true to the recipe and the fact that I did not have whole wheat pasta at home, I used the provided penne.
Green beans are one of my favourite sides, so I was happy to see them in this dish. I am always trying to add more green vegetables into my diet. Also in the pasta sauce was fresh spinach that was wilted and cooked down. The vegetables plus using whole wheat pasta makes this a really great meal and if you want to make it even better, use turkey sausage which is a much leaner option when compared to pork.
In a few days I will post the vegetarian Vietnamese bowl, so keep an eye out for that.
Use PTLFRESH18 to get your first order for $11! I highly suggest trying it!
BYES