Sausage and Pepper Rigatoni

*This recipe is from Jenny M--many thanks!

I have to admit, this was a little scary at first.  My husband saw it in passing on the local tv show called the 'Valley Dish'.  He said "MMMM, I wish we were having that for supper!"  So I decided to be adventurous and look up the recipe a few days later.  To my ultimate delight, he loved it and it wasn't that hard!  A few side notes:  I didn't know what fennel was, looked for it at Fry's and couldn't find it, so I never used it.  We didn't know the difference :).  Second, I used all dried herbs (cut amounts in half).  I just didn't have the fresh ones on hand and it was still delicious!

Ingredients...

12 oz ground Italian sausage (not spicy)

1 red bell pepper

1 small onion

3rd of a bulb of fennel

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme

1/2 cup olive oil

6 cloves fresh garlic

3/4 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup white wine

3/4 cup your favorite tomato sauce

1 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley

1 Tbsp fresh basil

1/2 grated Romano cheese

21 oz cooked rigatoni pasta

1.  Slice onions, fennel, and peppers.  Mince the garlic and chop all the herbs.

2.  In a large saute pan, heat the oil until it's at the smoking point (between 365-400 degrees Fahrenheit), add sausage meat.  Make sure it's spread out so meat covers the full surface of the pan.

3.  Add oregano, thyme, garlic, and vegetables.  Brown all slightly.  Add wine and chicken stock and reduce by half.

4.  Add tomato sauce and bring to a quick boil.

5.  Heat pasta and toss with the sauce mix.  Then mix in basil, parsley and Romano cheese. 

Enjoy!