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Pasta with Italian Sausage, Roasted Red Peppers, Olives and Goat Cheese

[heart_this] · Apr 12, 2008 · 41 Comments

Pasta with Italian Sausage, Roasted Red Peppers, Olives and Goat Cheese

I don’t normally plan a meal for Friday nights when I meal plan for the week. I use that night to clean up leftovers from the fridge. I don’t post about my Friday night dinners too often but every once in a while they turn out pretty good. This time I found a single Italian turkey sausage in my freezer and half of a red pepper, some olives and some goat cheese in the fridge. I immediately thought of using them in a pasta dish. Pasta is a great medium for finishing off odds and ends as it is a glue that binds all of the ingredients together. I knew that I would have to roast the red pepper for some extra flavour. I like balsamic vinegar with roasted red peppers and with goat cheese and so it was in. With that I had a quick and tasty pasta dish using odds and ends from my fridge. This recipe is only for one but you could easily double it or quadruple it.

Pasta with Italian Sausage, Roasted Red Peppers, Olives and Goat Cheese

Pasta with Italian Sausage, Roasted Red Peppers, Olives and Goat Cheese

Cook Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes Servings: 3
ingredients
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 pinch red chili pepper flakes (optional)
  • 1 onion (chopped)
  • 1 clove garlic (chopped)
  • 1 Italian turkey sausage (casing removed)
  • 1/2 red pepper (roasted, chopped)
  • 8 olives (pitted and chopped)
  • 1 serving pasta (cooked) (gluten free for gluten free)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
  • oregano to taste
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • parsley (chopped, optional)
  • goat cheese (crumbled, optional, or feta)
directions
  1. Heat the oil in a pan.
  2. Add the red chili pepper flakes and sautee until fragrant, about a minute.
  3. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
  4. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds)
  5. Add the sausage and break it apart with a spoon and saute until cooked, about 5 minutes.
  6. Turn off the heat and stir in the roasted red pepper and olives.
  7. Toss the mixture with the cooked pasta.
  8. Mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper is a bowl.
  9. Toss the Dressing with the pasta.
  10. Garnish with parsley and crumbled goat cheese.
Similar Recipes:
Butternut Squash, Italian Sausage and Sage Pasta
Orecchiette with Italian Sausage and Rapini
Suasage and Rapini on Gorgonzola Polenta

Take a look at the Presto Pasta Nights roundup at Once Upon a Feast.

Food, Gluten-free, Main Course, Pasta, Recipe

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. VeggieGirl says

    April 12, 2008 at 1:25 am

    can’t go wrong with pasta dishes – they’re so versatile and satisfying!!

    Reply
  2. Peter M says

    April 12, 2008 at 1:37 am

    I was supposed to go out too but it’s crappy & raining outside…cooked like you did.

    The pasta came together nicely considering you used leftovers.

    Reply
  3. Ben says

    April 12, 2008 at 1:46 am

    I don’t think there’s even a way to go wrong with pasta. I also used like to glue leftovers together with pasta. They are always easy to make and yummy.

    Reply
  4. Elle says

    April 12, 2008 at 2:05 am

    I could totally dig in to that bowl right now. Yum!

    Reply
  5. Ferdzy says

    April 12, 2008 at 2:34 am

    Looks good! The balsamic is an interesting touch.

    Reply
  6. StickyGooeyCreamyChewy says

    April 12, 2008 at 2:49 am

    Don’t you just love those “clean out the fridge” nights? Sometimes you come up with the greatest dishes. You found a real winning combination here. It looks delicious!

    Reply
  7. Kitt says

    April 12, 2008 at 3:50 am

    Looks great! What kind of pasta is that?

    Reply
  8. Helene says

    April 12, 2008 at 4:02 am

    We usually have pizza on TGIF. I’ll like your mixture, especially anything with goat cheese.

    Reply
  9. TheSassyChef says

    April 12, 2008 at 4:15 am

    Pasta is definitely one of the most versatile ingredients. At first, when I saw the picture, I thought you used rice cakes, which would definitely have been interesting! I think sausage would actually go pretty well with rice cake, but maybe not the goat cheese so much.

    Reply
  10. AnticiPlate says

    April 12, 2008 at 5:45 am

    I use egg scrambles to clean out my fridge. These flavors would work well:)

    Reply
  11. Ellie @ Kitchen Wench says

    April 12, 2008 at 6:52 am

    I love fast pasta dishes, and particularly love orecchiette 😀 Great work!

    Reply
  12. Jan says

    April 12, 2008 at 6:55 am

    Very colourful and tasty looking!

    Reply
  13. bleeding espresso says

    April 12, 2008 at 7:33 am

    Look fabulous–in fact, anything with roasted red peppers is fabulous to me 🙂

    Reply
  14. Sylvie says

    April 12, 2008 at 9:07 am

    That certainly doesn’t look like a meal made from odds and ends and leftovers.

    Reply
  15. Helen says

    April 12, 2008 at 9:57 am

    I love that about pasta – you are so right, it’s brilliant for using up all those bits and bobs. This looks delicious.

    Reply
  16. Anj says

    April 12, 2008 at 11:10 am

    If I cleaned out my fridge I would never come up with something that gorgeous! Pass me a spoon!

    Reply
  17. Ruth Daniels says

    April 12, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    It certainly is a gorgeous dish and, as everyone says…there’s no better base for leftovers. They take on a whole new life and yours is fantastic. Thanks for sharing with presto Pasta Night.

    Reply
  18. HoneyB says

    April 12, 2008 at 12:43 pm

    Definitely making this! I have all the ingredients!!!

    Reply
  19. jj says

    April 12, 2008 at 3:08 pm

    Around the parts I come from, past just seems to be the perfect comforting dish to serve up with the lousy weather we’re having. This dish you shared sure fills the bill, so to speak. Looks wonderful and I’m sure it’s going to taste wonderful, too. Thanks!

    Reply
  20. giz says

    April 12, 2008 at 3:12 pm

    I love the pasta that you used!! Gosh, cleaning out the fridge around here means being able to still feed a mission. Terrible obsession.

    Reply
  21. Gloria says

    April 12, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    Lovely, how ever!!! I would like to going to house some day Kevin and you cook to me!! xxx Gloria

    Reply
  22. Patsyk says

    April 12, 2008 at 6:35 pm

    Pasta can make anything taste good, but you had some wonderful leftover ingredients to start with! Great dish!

    Reply
  23. katiez says

    April 12, 2008 at 7:47 pm

    Goat cheese, peppers and sausage are always a winning combination… Add in the olives…
    I could probably live on it! Happily!

    Reply
  24. Ginny says

    April 12, 2008 at 8:43 pm

    yummy! Thats my kind of dinner! looks great!

    Reply
  25. MARICHELLE says

    April 12, 2008 at 10:21 pm

    don’t you just love it when that happens… I love trying to turn leftovers into something else. Looks great!!

    Reply
  26. Pam says

    April 13, 2008 at 1:32 am

    I didn’t even have to read the recipe, I could tell from the title that this was going to be good!

    Reply
  27. marye says

    April 13, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    That looks great! Is that orichette that you used? It seems the perfect pasta shape for that sauce

    Reply
  28. Proud Italian Cook says

    April 13, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    No one would ever know you were just cleaning out your frig! Looks mighty good!

    Reply
  29. Neen says

    April 13, 2008 at 11:30 pm

    This looks delicious! I’ve been longing for a sausage/pasta combo recently. D claims that he’s going to make something like this on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to it!

    Reply
  30. Linda says

    April 14, 2008 at 2:00 am

    classic.

    Reply
  31. maybahay says

    April 14, 2008 at 3:10 am

    beautiful. the touch of goat’s cheese is a winner.

    Reply
  32. Rosie says

    April 14, 2008 at 1:10 pm

    This looks delicious! I adore pasta and this one fits the bill 100% for me 🙂

    Rosie x

    Reply
  33. Mike of Mike's Table says

    April 14, 2008 at 1:17 pm

    I know just what you mean with these kinds of dishes, but for a leftover/fridge purge, it sure looks great and this is definitely my kind of pasta dish.

    I think the sad part about such meals is they usually are made from such an odd assortment of ingredients, its unlikely you’ll make it ever again…

    Reply
  34. Deborah says

    April 14, 2008 at 3:12 pm

    That’s my idea of leftovers!!

    Reply
  35. Gigi says

    April 14, 2008 at 6:31 pm

    You can never go wrong with pasta! I just so happen to have a little sausage left over. I think I have found my dinner inspiration for tonight.

    Reply
  36. Cooking and the City says

    April 14, 2008 at 11:00 pm

    Yum I love pasta & this looks great, never had goat cheese tho 🙂

    Reply
  37. aria says

    April 15, 2008 at 2:44 am

    ohhhya, i do that too – just clean it up and flip it in pasta! i love the goat cheese variable — sounds deeeelish!!

    Reply
  38. Tara says

    April 19, 2008 at 9:27 pm

    This pasta immediately caught my eye. We have some freshly-made italian sausage that would taste great tossed in a pasta like this. I agree with your comment about pasta being good to use up your leftovers and clean out your fridge – I do it all the time and it almost always turns out great!

    BTW, you have really stepped up your posting frequency over the last couple months – you’re a cooking maniac! Your food looks awesome, though. I love it!

    Reply
  39. tigerfish says

    April 20, 2008 at 2:04 am

    I always like sausage with shell pasta. Just so easy to enjoy this 🙂

    Reply
  40. abby says

    April 20, 2008 at 9:56 am

    i love it when leftover cooking comes together like this!

    Reply
  41. Tara says

    January 13, 2009 at 12:36 am

    The perfect level of spiciness, I substituted goat cheese for feta, great great great

    Reply

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