More Italian: Spicy Red Sauce With Homemade Sausage (W / Pics)

[tx smoker]

Simply put, Italian is undeniably one of my favorite styles of food to cook and eat. I got a terrible craving for a spicy red sauce with homemade sausage served over pasta, so, much to the dismay of Tracy, we had Italian on a hot Summer night. I've been making this for a long time but never wrote anything down....which was typical for me until recently. It was heartbreaking to make up something really good, she asks for it again 2 weeks later, and I had no idea what I'd made. When I started really following SMF and trying to get involved with the forum, I started writing stuff down versus just shooting from the hip every time. When I get it dialed in, it's typed up in a Word document, saved, printed, and added to my cookbook. Said cookbook is REALLY starting to grow with a whole bunch of custom creations, as well as quite a few I've gotten here. This is what I put together in my time of desperate need:

Base ingredients for the sauce. Do you notice a recurring theme with garlic??

My homemade sausage. Wanted to use spicy but didn't have any so used sweet. Time to get to work making sausage I guess :-)

Sauce and spices in the pan. Recipe to follow

Let simmer. The longer the better as is typical with Italian.

Split the sausages and lightly fry them

Almost done

Cook pasta (didn't see much point in posting noodles cooking) and lay on the sausage

Money shot!! Sauce over top, a good dose of grated Parmesan, and garlic bread

This was dangerously good!! When I make the sauce, I like to let it simmer on low for a couple of hours, turn the heat off, and leave it to rest with the lid on for as long as possible, then re-heat just before serving. This allows the flavors to REALLY meld and marry. It is deep, rich, very complex, and a slight spice zing from the cayenne and black pepper. Of course, there is just no substitute for the homemade sausage either. You won't get flavors like this in a restaurant anywhere. Here is the recipe exactly as I made the sauce:

1 14.5 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes
1 9.1 oz. tub crushed tomatoes
1½ T fresh minced garlic
1 T minced onion
1 t oregano
½ t basil
½ t black pepper
½ t ground coffee
½ t sugar
½ t salt
¼ t cayenne

If I were to make it just like this again the only thing I'd do differently is double the cayenne. If however I was using the spicy sausage as originally intended, the additional cayenne wouldn't be necessary so I left the recipe to reflect that. Just need to get in gear and make some more Italian sausages Thanks for looking....again

Little Italy in Lago,
Robert

 

[chilerelleno]

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
I'm eating a bland Sammie out of my cooler.... Meh!

Looks freaking great from here Robert!
Nice cook/recipe.
I'll be trying it sometime soon.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

That's real close to a recipe for "Peasant Sauce" I've had for years. I don't use coffee which I'll try next time, and I use white pepper instead of cayenne. Great looking meal Robert.

 

[tx smoker]

"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!
I'm eating a bland Sammie out of my cooler.... Meh!

Looks freaking great from here Robert!
Nice cook/recipe.
I'll be trying it sometime soon."

You got it Chile!! I'll send you a PM with a plate full Thank you for the kind words and the like. Very much appreciated sir.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

"That's real close to a recipe for "Peasant Sauce" I've had for years. I don't use coffee which I'll try next time, and I use white pepper instead of cayenne. Great looking meal Robert."

Thanks 5G. I've used coffee in my red sauce since I was a kid. It adds a deep. smoky flavor as well as enhances the depth of the color. I'm not a huge fan of bright red sauces that look like ketchup. The white pepper sounds good. I may give that a shot and see what happens. Sadly that's a much-overlooked spice in my cabinet. I tend to only use it in sausages that call for it.....but I think it's time to change my way of thinking. It's a great spice.

Robert

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

You are killing it with all this good looking food man! Changing it up sometimes is great. We usually have something like this or maybe spaghetti and meatballs once a week. I'm sure you will be back on the SM grill before too long though! Points for sure

John

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Thanks 5G. I've used coffee in my red sauce since I was a kid. It adds a deep. smoky flavor as well as enhances the depth of the color. I'm not a huge fan of bright red sauces that look like ketchup. The white pepper sounds good. I may give that a shot and wee what happens. Sadly that's a much-overlooked spice in my cabinet. I tend to only use it in sausages that call for it.....but I think it's time to change my way of thinking. It's a great spice.

Robert

It's funny Robert. After I made this the first few times I thought it was way too simple of a recipe and certainly I could doctor it up a little to make it taste better. NOPE! Do you use a certain type of coffee?

 

[smokerjim]

looks great, got to love spaghetti.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Now that looks GOOD!!
Unfortunately, we cant get those fire roasted tomatoes up here--not HEB--so I have to roast my own.
POINT
Gary

 

[forktender]

coffee in pasta sauce?

 

[Braz]

That looks really good. Spaghetti with Italian sausage is one of my favorites. SWMBO however will not abide any sauce other than her own being in the house so I'm not permitted to dabble there. Hers is pretty good though. She makes it in cauldron sized batches, cooked all day, then freezes it in meal sized portions.

Salud e cin cin.

 

[chopsaw]

That looks fantastic . Had homemade sausage and bow ties last night , but garlic and butter for sauce . This post makes me want more .

When I make the sauce, I like to let it simmer on low for a couple of hours, turn the heat off, and leave it to rest with the lid on for as long as possible, then re-heat just before serving.

I'm with you on this . I do it with sauce and home made soup . Makes a big difference .
Nice job , makes me hungry .

 

[tx smoker]

"Do you use a certain type of coffee?"

5G, no I don't use anything special. Just whatever is in the big canister beside my coffee maker that I make my morning Joe with every day. By the time it cooks down into the sauce, I really don't think you'd see any difference in different types or brands of coffee.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

"coffee in pasta sauce?"

Absolutely. Been doing it for years. Even my wife, who doesn't like coffee says it adds a very pleasant flavor dimension to the sauce.

I'd be willing to bet that at some point in history somebody once said "ketchup on french fries? " and look where that's gone.

Defending the honor of my coffee :-)
Robert

 

[Dunstablegrizzly]

Love Italian food!!!

That looks amazing thanks for the recipe as we will try this this week

 

[tx smoker]

More than welcome. That's a big part of what this forum is all about: Sharing and helping others. I can't begin to tell you how much I've learned from this group and it has changed our lives.

Robert