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
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
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the red chili pepper flakes and sautee until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 30 seconds)
- Add the sausage and break it apart with a spoon and saute until cooked, about 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the roasted red pepper and olives.
- Toss the mixture with the cooked pasta.
- Mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper is a bowl.
- Toss the Dressing with the pasta.
- Garnish with parsley and crumbled goat cheese.
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can’t go wrong with pasta dishes – they’re so versatile and satisfying!!
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.
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.
I could totally dig in to that bowl right now. Yum!
Looks good! The balsamic is an interesting touch.
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!
Looks great! What kind of pasta is that?
We usually have pizza on TGIF. I’ll like your mixture, especially anything with goat cheese.
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.
I use egg scrambles to clean out my fridge. These flavors would work well:)
I love fast pasta dishes, and particularly love orecchiette 😀 Great work!
Very colourful and tasty looking!
Look fabulous–in fact, anything with roasted red peppers is fabulous to me 🙂
That certainly doesn’t look like a meal made from odds and ends and leftovers.
I love that about pasta – you are so right, it’s brilliant for using up all those bits and bobs. This looks delicious.
If I cleaned out my fridge I would never come up with something that gorgeous! Pass me a spoon!
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.
Definitely making this! I have all the ingredients!!!
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!
I love the pasta that you used!! Gosh, cleaning out the fridge around here means being able to still feed a mission. Terrible obsession.
Lovely, how ever!!! I would like to going to house some day Kevin and you cook to me!! xxx Gloria
Pasta can make anything taste good, but you had some wonderful leftover ingredients to start with! Great dish!
Goat cheese, peppers and sausage are always a winning combination… Add in the olives…
I could probably live on it! Happily!
yummy! Thats my kind of dinner! looks great!
don’t you just love it when that happens… I love trying to turn leftovers into something else. Looks great!!
I didn’t even have to read the recipe, I could tell from the title that this was going to be good!
That looks great! Is that orichette that you used? It seems the perfect pasta shape for that sauce
No one would ever know you were just cleaning out your frig! Looks mighty good!
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!
classic.
beautiful. the touch of goat’s cheese is a winner.
This looks delicious! I adore pasta and this one fits the bill 100% for me 🙂
Rosie x
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…
That’s my idea of leftovers!!
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.
Yum I love pasta & this looks great, never had goat cheese tho 🙂
ohhhya, i do that too – just clean it up and flip it in pasta! i love the goat cheese variable — sounds deeeelish!!
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!
I always like sausage with shell pasta. Just so easy to enjoy this 🙂
i love it when leftover cooking comes together like this!
The perfect level of spiciness, I substituted goat cheese for feta, great great great