Smoked Sausage, Tomatoes & Mushrooms Penne

I haven't really wanted to cook pasta for a while. It's mainly cuz now I'm in this frame of mind where I feel like it's a chore to dirty another pot and strainer JUST to cook pasta and sometimes it takes longer for the pasta to cook than it does for me to make the sauce. Weird and probably very lazy, since it's almost the same as just making rice for any other dishes. HAH.

Regardless, I had the ingredients to make a pretty easy pasta dinner, so I made myself do it! I'm glad I did though. It was pretty good. :)

Surprisingly it wasn't that filling though. I ended up having to have some leftover lasagna as an "after dinner snack". Lol. Maybe I just needed to have a bigger portion. :P


Smoked Sausage, Tomatoes & Mushrooms Penne
(serves 4)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dry penne pasta
• 1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 smoked Italian sausages, sliced
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 red chili pepper, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp canola oil
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• Salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium to large pot, cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente.
2. In a large skillet, heat up oil over medium high heat. Add in mushrooms and cook until they start to get some colour.
3. Toss in onions, chili pepper and sausage. Cook until onions soften and sausage starts getting browned at the edges. 
4. Add tomatoes and garlic. Use the tomato juice that secretes out to help scrape off any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Season with salt and pepper.
5. When pasta is cooked, drain, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water.
6. Toss in cooked pasta and stir in Parmesan cheese. If the pasta gets dry, add a little pasta water to loosen up.
7. Serve with a side salad and soup.