This has quickly become become one of my very favorite dishes ever since I tried it in a restaurant not long ago. It blends the flavors of Cajun style food and Italian inspired dishes beautifully. This recipe makes a LOT of food, probably enough for about 8 entree sized portions so you may want to cut it in half for your own purposes. It’s very easy to make, not too much prep time and can probably be done in about 45 minutes or so.

The ingredients:

1 lb Smoked Sausage
1/2 lb Andouille (ahn-DOO-wee) Sausage
Some extra virgin olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 bell / green pepper, chopped
2 14oz cans petite diced tomatoes (regular diced is ok too)
1/2 of a 14 oz can clear chicken broth / stock
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on mild or kinda spicy hot)
1 tablespoon ground basil leaves
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon finely minced or crushed garlic
1/2 pint heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper (regular grind is ok too)
1 12oz package Farfalle (bow tie pasta)

I start out by slicing the sausages lengthwise then cutting it in to narrow slices. Using a 12″ skillet, add a couple tablespoons of the olive oil and lightly brown all of the sausage on a medium-low heat. Turn the sausage frequently for even cooking, when it’s done drain and discard the grease and set the sausage aside.

While that’s cooking start chopping up the onion and bell pepper. Prepare a larger deep frying pan or skillet (or use the same one after removing the sausage and draining the grease) with about 4 tablespoons of olive oil and add the onions first and stir it into the oil on a medium heat. While the onions are cooking open and drain well the two cans of diced tomatoes and pour them in and add the bell pepper and the chicken broth and the cream, stir well and simmer on a medium heat for the water to boil out. Stir often, and add in the rest of the spices except for the garlic and sausage. Cooking time through this part will be about 20 minutes.

This is a good time to start the water boiling for the pasta, cook according to instructions on package but leave the pasta slightly firm in the center (about 13 minutes boiling). I like to first add a teaspoon of olive oil to the pasta water to keep it from sticking and a little salt to prevent boil over. Once the pasta is done, drain well and set it aside.

Back to the sauce, it should start to get slightly thicker as the water is cooked out, once most of the water is gone, add in the garlic and all of the sausage. Once that’s all blended together add in the grated Parmesan cheese and continue cooking and stirring for a few more minutes until it thickens to a sauce like consistency. Then you can stir in the pasta last. Once the pasta is thoroughly stirred in you can stop cooking because you are done! Let stand for about 5 to 10 minutes to thicken then serve!

This frying pan is 12 inches wide x 2 1/2 inches deep

You can also use chicken or shrimp or both with the sausage in the recipe for variety. The andouille is not essential if you can’t find it local, just use extra smoked sausage, but it does add a lot of the smoky flavor that characterizes this dish. If you try it, let me know what you think! Enjoy!