Creamy Pasta w/Smoked Sausage

For my first post under "Sage Advice" I was going to post another recipe. One of my favorites, actually. But after playing around with my posting schedule, I've decided to save that one for another day. You'll have to stay tuned to see what it is. Hint: It's a hit at any party. So for now, I'm showing you this one.

I tried something different from what I usually do when everyone seems to be in a hurry and regardless of what is going on in their schedules, they have to eat. Ordinarily, I would just make this same dish, but instead of the cream sauce you can see in the photo above, I would cheat and use a block of some melted cheese. It's quick, it's easy. I don't have to do tons of clean up after. Literally like, three steps. And my family likes it. But like I said, I tried something different and used a cream sauce this time.

And I have to say, I liked it much better. I love cheese and anything like cheese (for the most part) and so it's a bit out of character for me, ha. My kids especially. They could live off dairy if I would let them, but cheese is their favorite. Any kind of cheese.

So since this has been deemed a keeper, I thought I would share it. It's not really a complicated dish. And it's very likely that some of you have already made it or perfected it even further. Which is awesome, I would LOVE to hear some verdicts and tips.

Now let's get down to business.

First, I fry up some sliced smoked sausage in a skillet. A little bit of oil helps if you don't want to "burn" some of the sausage or make it stick to your pan... I honestly like my sausage a little crispy, so I let mine get a little darker than "it's supposed to". Meh.

Meanwhile, in a large pot (depending on how much pasta you plan on using), boil some water and cook your pasta (ANY kind will work, but for this I prefer bow tie or penne, but it's ultimately up to you) according to the package directions.

As those two things were doing their own thing on the stove, I looked around some of my favorite recipe books and sites to see what sauce I could whip up in lieu of a huge chunk of cheese. I finally found one for basic cream sauce here that I ended up tweaking because I just used whatever butter I had on hand and things didn't turn out magically as pretty as the pictures I saw online and in the recipe books...

Ingredients for Cream Sauce:

1/2-1 stick of melted butter

2-3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

*2 cups of heavy whipping cream

Dash of salt & pepper

Dash of garlic garlic powder

Dash of cajun seasoning (for a kick)

Dash of Italian seasoning

Now, this is my own recipe. I kind of played with the ratios to get it as thick as I wanted. And in the original recipe I found, 2 tablespoons of butter was no where near enough for all the flour it called for. It wasn't even pasty. So I had to up the amount of butter to make the flour cooperate.

Then I freaked out because DUH, I don't ordinarily keep heavy whipping cream on hand... It's just something I don't make a habit of buying. And, much like the real butter thing, I was NOT going to run to the store for one thing. That would have been way too much work that would have entailed two crabby toddlers and a 20 minute drive "to town" since our little village doesn't have a grocery store anymore... Sure, the next town over has one, but it's a shot in the dark as to what they do and don't have, and I wasn't willing to bet on a place that didn't carry cooking sherry, but had a fully stocked alcohol aisle.... But I digress.

Anyway, back to the heavy whipping cream conundrum (say that five times fast). This is where the internet shines as a wonderful resource. I found numerous sources that basically said the same thing as far as a substitute goes, but I ended up actually clicking on this one. It was like, the first one that popped up that seemed to say what I wanted, so yeah... Below I doubled the recipe.

Ingredients for Heavy Whipping Cream:

1 1/2 cup whole milk

2/3 cup butter

For that, you just melt the butter, allow it to cool and then pour it into the milk. Whip it (and whip it good). Then you're free to put it in any recipe that calls for it. This will make about 2 cups. It's important to note, however, that this is for things like pasta sauces and due to the ingredients you're using to make it, it's not going to whip into whipping cream like the store bought stuff does. But we don't really need that for our creamy pasta with smoked sausage. This heavy cream will do the job.

Back to the cream sauce, now. (Oh, and make sure to keep an eye on your sausage and pasta... ideally, since you all are loads more experienced and resourceful than I, it shouldn't take you very long to whip up the heavy cream you need-unless of course you have some already on hand, which I'm sure you do-and make the cream sauce. But I took longer and ended up crisping my sausage.. It was fine though, because that's how I like it.) While the sausage and pasta are cooking happily in their pan and pot, respectively, start the cream sauce by melting your butter in a pan on say, medium heat. Add your flour. Like I mentioned before, 2 tablespoons of butter was not going to cut it. So you could add 2 tablespoons at a time until the butter-flour mixture is worked into a smooth, even paste that is reminiscent of the beginnings of a gravy mixture. You can add as much butter and flour as you need to make it as thin or thick as you wish, but I like mine about in the middle. Keep working it for a few minutes with your whisk (or spoon, or whatever really). Feel free to add your salt and pepper here, along with some garlic powder and some Cajun and Italian seasoning. It's going to thicken and bubble some. Next you'll add about half of your heavy cream while continuing to stir. Allow it to thicken some more and add the remaining cream. Keep stirring for a few more minutes as the mixture thickens up even more. Five minutes should do the trick, but as long as it's all heated through and as thick as you want it, you can go ahead and pull it off the stove. If you wanted to make it taste more cheesy, though, you can melt cheese into the cream sauce mixture on low once it's thickened. I didn't. But I may next time. Who knows.

By now, hopefully, your sausage is done and your pasta is pretty much where it needs to be to drain and set aside. Combine the pasta, sauce and sausage and voila, you're done. You can sprinkle on some Parmesan or whatever other kind of cheese you like. Or leave it off. It's totally up to you.

I hope you find it as quick and easy as I did! Well, except for the whipping cream meltdown, ha. If not, or if you have any questions, comments or suggestions to make it better, just let me know.

I look forward to sharing more with you all!

xoxo,

LittleGypsyRed