In this easy recipe, I just do a quick sauté of Italian sausage and a few veggies, toss it with some red pesto sauce and cream, and then add in my boiled cavatappi. It’s one of my my favorite pasta dishes out there. So I’ll tell you, I’ve followed this very same recipe with a lot of different pasta shapes. Farfalle go great, tubes like rigatoni and ziti also work well, but my favorite is cavatappi. It’s just perfect here. In case you’re not familiar with it, cavatappi, which was invented in the 1970’s, is a corkscrew shaped tubular pasta. Kind of imagine a bunch of macaroni noodles connected together into one long spiral. Anyways, this quick pasta dish has become a regular in our weeknight dinner rotation. Give it a try, it might become one of yours too.
Ingredients
Pasta – Again, you can use any shape you prefer. But please do try it with cavatappi, it’s such a fun shape and goes great in this recipe. Olive oil – This is for cooking the sausage and vegetables. Italian sausage – I personally prefer spicy, but use mild if you like. Mushrooms – One of sausage’s favorite accompaniments. Bell pepper – Any color of your choice. I like the sweetness from red. Garlic – If you don’t like it, find another food blog. Red pesto sauce – The very first time I made this recipe, I used green pesto. It’s very good, but I really prefer the flavor of red pesto here. Heavy whipping cream – This is where the creaminess factor comes in. I have tried it with half and half, but it’s just not as good. That being said, you can make the swap if you’re watching calories.
Cavatappi Pasta Recipe
First, I get the pasta going. In salted water, I boil it to al dente, then drain and set it aside. While the pasta is cooking, I heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add sausage. I break the sausage up with a spoon, stir in the mushrooms and chopped red bell pepper, and cook until there is no more pink in the sausage. Next, I add the garlic, stir well, and cook for 1 more minute. To finish things off, I stir in the red pesto sauce and heavy cream, mix well, then add in prepared cavatappi pasta. I stir everything up until it is well combined, then serve immediately. So, there’s your easy weeknight pasta dish. It’s Wednesday, who really wants to slave in the kitchen anyways? If you try it, please leave a star rating and comment, we love to hear from you. And be sure to stay in the loop by subscribing to our newsletter or following us on Pinterest. Some more great pasta recipes:Frutti di MareGigi Hadid PastaAmerican Chop SueyKielbasa PastaPasta e PiselliSpicy Sausage PastaJambalaya Pasta
