INGREDIENTS
dash of olive oil
- 3 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 shallots, chopped (or you can use one medium onion)
- 1 pound sweet (or mild) italian sausage (opt for the sweet - goes well with the spicy of the red pepper)
- 1 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
- 2 14oz. (or one big 28oz) cans of Del Monte Diced Tomatoes FLAVORED WITH BASIL, OREGANO and GARLIC (sometimes called Italian Seasoned) (be SURE to get Del Monte...all other brands don't taste as good in this recipe)
- 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (like stuff you put on pizza)
- 1 tbsp fresh sage, sliced
- 5 large zucchini, julienned
- shredded or grated parmesan cheese
1) Remove sausage from casing and set aside.
2) Saute chopped garlic and shallots/onions in olive oil until tender.
3) Add in sausage and cook until no longer pink. I usually drop in the meat in small portions and when it starts to cook, break it apart with the spatula, leaving big chunks.
4) Add cream, and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
5) Add canned diced tomatoes, sage and red pepper and simmer.
6) While sauce is simmering, julienne the zucchini. I've got a special julienne tool that I use.
7) Sprinkle some salt on the julienned zucchini and let it sit for about 10 minutes. You'll notice that all the water will start draining out of the zucchini. This is called "sweating" the zucchini. This is very important to do, because if you don't do it, you'll notice a lot of excess water coming off it once you mix it with the sauce, which then waters down your sauce. You don't want that!)
8) After you've sweat the zucchini, rinse it under some cold running water (to get rid of the salt), and then pick up the "zoodles" by the handful and squeeze out any excess water. (You'll notice the zoodles are a lot thinner than they were when you first julienned them. It's ok, this is good.)
9) Toss a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and saute the zoodles for a two minutes in the oil. (These won't need to cook long at all - just cook them until they're the desired texture for you.)
8) After you've sweat the zucchini, rinse it under some cold running water (to get rid of the salt), and then pick up the "zoodles" by the handful and squeeze out any excess water. (You'll notice the zoodles are a lot thinner than they were when you first julienned them. It's ok, this is good.)
9) Toss a tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and saute the zoodles for a two minutes in the oil. (These won't need to cook long at all - just cook them until they're the desired texture for you.)
10) Once the sauce has simmered for about 20 minutes, it's ready for the pasta.
11) When the zucchini is done, add it directly to the sauce.
12) Serve with some grated parmesan!
(PS - if you want to make this recipe with regular pasta, just skip steps 6-9 and cook up regular pasta instead. Penne pasta (the tube-like pasta is the best to use!)
(PS - if you want to make this recipe with regular pasta, just skip steps 6-9 and cook up regular pasta instead. Penne pasta (the tube-like pasta is the best to use!)
And since it was so cold, we decided to pretend it was warm and had a picnic inside! (Thanks Cynthia Ton for the inspiration!)
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