About a week ago, I put out an SOS for summer reading for my beach trip. I received a ton of really great suggestions, but one stood out. Not only did the fabulous Lena recommend “I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti,” by Giulia Melucci, but she even brought her copy to me to borrow! 
Lena was right, this book made the perfect beach reading. Even though the actual narration of the book was great, the recipes sprinkled throughout stole my heart. By the end of the book, you have a great feel for Guilia’s cooking style, and you have seen enough of her recipes to be able to adapt her style to your own.
I only expected a beach read, I did not expect to get my cooking motivation back….but that is exactly what happened! As I was reading, adaptations of Giulia’s recipes kept popping into my head. Believe it or not, I couldn’t wait to get home get cooking again!
This recipe was inspired by the book, as well as the tomatoes and peppers that came off of our patio plants when we got home. The tips I received from Guilia did not disappoint. I was able to adapt her base cooking method, and the results were spectacular.
This is a very simple summer pasta recipe, and you can mix and match the ingredients however you choose…But it is best when you can throw in a little something from your personal garden!
Recipe: Summer Vegetable and Sausage Pasta
Ingredients (Makes 2 servings, may be doubled):
- 6 oz Fettucini Nests or Pappardelle Pasta
- 2 Sweet Italian Sausage links (casing removed)
- 4 Tbsp Olive Oil
- Red pepper flakes (may omit if you don’t like spicy)
- 2 large garlic coves (thinly sliced)
- 1/4 Vidalia onion (diced)
- 1/2 Yellow Pepper (diced)
- 1/2 Red Pepper (diced)
- 1/2 Green Pepper (diced)
- Salt
- 30 fresh basil leaves (torn into small pieces)
- Grated Reggiano or Parmesan
Directions:
- Heat up a large non-stick pan over medium-high
- Crumble sausage into pan
- Cook, stirring every so often, until sausage is brown. About 8 minutes.
- While the sausage is cooking, begin cooking your pasta according to the instructions on the pasta package.
- Drain the fat from the sausage, and move cooked sausage to a bowl for use later.
- Add 3 Tablespoons of olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic and onion to the hot pan
- Cook, stirring frequently, until mixture starts to get a golden color. About 5 minutes
- Reduce heat to medium and add all of the peppers
- Cook peppers, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Peppers should not get soft, just tender to the bite.
- Your pasta should be ready by now. Drain it and set aside.
- Add the cooked sausage to the pepper and onion mixture. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring often, for 5 more minutes.
- Salt mixture to taste.
- Add torn basil leaves and stir.
- Add cooked pasta to the sausage mixture, drizzle with remaining tablespoon of olive oil and mix well.
- Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring frequently, for an additional 3 minutes.
- Place pasta mixture in serving bowls and sprinkle with cheese.
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