Pasta in a Creamy Tomato Sauce for Crazy Ingredient Challenge

This month's CIC isn't so crazy.  The vote was tallied and the ingredients are tomato and heavy cream.  Not too unusual and certainly flavors that work well together.  After all, Cream of Tomato Soup is an American icon and one that I thought of making.  Then I thought maybe since the ingredients weren't that unusual, I should use them in a way that was unusual.  I decided that was the route I would go and stepped away from the computer.

Next thing I knew CIC was in 3 days!!!  Life had gotten very Crazy around here even if the ingredients weren't and I had completely forgotten about this challenge.  In the end, I went with my old stand-by, pasta.  Pasta makes everything better and I needed a little comfort in my life.

I made a rich pasta sauce using Italian sausage, mushrooms, lots of herbs and spices and, of course, tomatoes.  When the sauce had cooked down to a nice thick pot of goodness that made my house smell amazing....I added some heavy cream and made it perfection in a pot.

I decided that since I had to wait around for the sauce to simmer for a couple of hours it would be a good time to make some homemade fettuccine noodles to go with this sauce. I made my first homemade pasta at the beginning of the month and was tickled at how easy it is using my kitchen aid. I used the same recipe but the flat pasta plate instead of the macaroni plate.

John and Kirsten joined us for dinner after Mass and we had a wonderful relaxing evening of food, friends and fun.

Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce

4 Italian Sausage Links, casings slit and removed, sausage crumbled
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz, mushrooms, sliced
1 T. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 qt. tomatoes, with juices
1 T. tomato paste
1/2 t. parsley paste
1/2 t. oregano paste
2 t. lightly dried basil
1/8 t. lightly dried red pepper flakes, crushed
1/3 c. heavy cream
1 lb fresh or dried pasta, cooked al dente

Heat olive oil in a dutch oven, or similar heavy vessel, over med high heat.  Add the onions and garlic.  Cook and stir until fragrant and softened, 2 or 3 minutes.  Add the sausage, cook and stir, breaking up any large chunks until no longer pink.  Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally for 4 or 5 minutes until mushrooms have released all their liquid and it has evaporated.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, oregano, basil and red pepper flakes. Stir to combine, bring to a boil.  Lower heat to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally for 1-2 hrs, until thickened.  Stir in heavy cream and serve over cooked pasta. Print Recipe

Here are some more great Tomato and Cream creations!

An InLinkz Link-up