Sausage, Veggie & Herb Pasta

Fresh veggies and herbs in a light pasta dish are a great anytime meal.  Make sure you locate gluten-free italian sausages, since a lot of sausage brands contain gluten.  I find the brands that are gluten-free also tend to be the no-nitrate, no preservative brands, so it's a win-win really!  This dish is terrific with toasted garlic bread.  We like to slice up slices of my gluten-free white bread recipe, put on some butter and garlic powder and toast in the oven until lightly browned.  Enjoy!

I used a large macaroni quinoa pasta here, which was very nice.

Sausage, Veggie & Herb Pasta

Serves 4-6

 

Ideally, you can cook all three of the following at the same time, but you can cook the pasta and sausage first, and then cook the veggies before combining. 

 
PASTA

Cook 8 oz/225 g gluten-free penne pasta in lightly salted water. 

(NOTE: I find that most gluten-free pastas suggest cooking 4-6 minutes, and I find they need more like 10-12 minutes.  Make sure you taste a piece so it’s how you like your pasta to taste before draining the pasta). 

Once cooked, drain pasta, rinse with cold water, and set aside.

SAUSAGE

Cook the following:

2-3 links large gluten-free Italian Sausage

You can cook the sausage by:

1. Cutting into smaller pieces and sautéing in a little olive oil until done
2. Cook according to package (generally they have you steam sausages with a little water on the bottom of the pan until done). 
1. Once cooked, slice nicely into even pieces.  The sausage will end up much neater looking this way, but either will taste fine.

VEGGIES

Heat over medium heat in a large frying pan:

1-2 Tbsp olive oil

 

Add and sauté 4-5 minutes, until softened:

1 zucchini, chopped

½ red bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

Salt and pepper

 

Push the veggies to the sides of the pan, if desired, to help garlic cook faster.

Add and cook in the middle 1-2 minutes, until aromatic:

1 green onion, thinly sliced

3 tsp minced garlic

Stir in the following and let cook 1 minute:

¼ cup mixture of the following fresh herbs: basil, oregano, marjoram

Few pieces fresh rosemary, minced

Remove from heat and mix in the cooked sausage and cooked pasta. 

 

Top with parmesan cheese & additional fresh basil, sliced.

Serve and enjoy!