We all have our favorite recipes. And we all have vices. This recipe combines the best (best?) of both of them in my little world.
I’ve been sitting on this recipe ever since I started blogging. It’s one of those recipes I make it at least once a month, a favorite staple in our house and one I break out when company shows up unexpectantly because I always have the ingredients on hand.
But because it’s such a favorite for dinner, it’s usually dark by the time I’m done cooking and we’re hungry and there’s no light to take a pretty picture or any pasta left anyway. Oh, the life of a food blogger, balancing hunger pains of the family for you my lovely readers.
I change this recipe up by using different sausages, different color peppers or sometimes none at all, thick cut pappardelle, rigatoni or fetuccine, whatever I have in the pantry. But I always make sure mushrooms and marsala wine are included.
The marsala wine is the key ingredient here. Simmered with fresh rosemary the marsala creates a flavor that doesn’t compare. Like I said, it’s my favorite and I use it in place of white wine all the time, with sautéed chicken dishes, in gravies and even in desserts like in my Mascarpone Pumpkin Mousse Cups. Obsessed I tell you.
Five tips for making and adapting my favorite pasta:
1. If you want to watch your cream intake, substitute it with ¼ cup or so of mascarpone or another creamy cheese to help thicken the marsala sauce.
2. Make sure your pasta is al denté when adding it to the sauce as you’ll want to cook it for a minute or two it it to soak up all of the winey/creamy notes.
3. If I don’t have rosemary in the fridge or its too snowy to snip some from the garden, I’ll toss in fresh basil or even thyme to keep it on the savory side. An added sprinkle of parsley adds a freshness before serving.
4. If you’re looking for a purely vegetarian version, ditch the sausage and use sliced portobello mushrooms to give some girth to the meal. Or if you’re a chicken lover, toss in a few slices or dices of uncooked chicken breast in the first step then add an additional tablespoon of olive oil with the peppers and onions and follow the directions from there. When adding the marsala wine, be sure to scrape up the flavor bits from the bottom of the pan.
5. Be careful not to add the tomatoes too early or they’ll bleed and begin to disappear into the sauce and leave nothing but a tomato skin. If using a tomato other than whole cherry tomato, be sure to seed it first and cut into a nice dice.
Sausage and Marsala Pappardelle
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pappardelle pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 red bell pepper sliced
- 1 onion thinly sliced
- 4 links smoked turkey sausage sliced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 6 large mushrooms sliced
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- ½ cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
- 1 cup cream
- ½ cup sweet marsala wine
- kosher salt
- parmesan cheese for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil then generously salt with kosher salt. Add pappardelle pasta and cook until al dente then drain, reserving ½ cup pasta sauce.
- While pasta is cooking begin cooking the sauce. In a 10-inch skillet over medium-high, heat olive oil and then add red bell pepper slices and onion and cook for 4-5 minutes or until onion softens, stirring occasionally. Season with kosher salt, add mushrooms and cook for another 3 minutes. Add garlic, turkey sausage and red pepper flakes and cook until turkey is warmed through, about 3 minutes.
- Add cream, marsala, tomatoes and rosemary to skillet and cook for about 3 minutes or until sauce thickens and tomatoes soften. Gently fold in pasta to skillet until coated. If you'd like more sauce, add reserved pasta water one tablespoon at a time or another pour or two of cream if you want a heavier sauce. Garnish with parmesan, kosher salt and more rosemary if desired. Serve immediately.
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Chicken Piccata Pasta
Pasta with Marinated Tomatoes
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Heidi- we actually added the tomatoes (halved) early and the sauce was quite pleasant. There was another layer of flavor you’re missing, unfortunately. Next family get together, I’d recommend trying this. Thanks
My family loved this last night. I added a bit more red and yellow bell pepper and used spicey linguisa. It was delicious. Even my 11 year old pickey ester cleaned his plate
YAY!! thanks for sharing David.
My husband said it was one of my best, thank you!
Ok, this seriously needs to appear for dinner at my house tonight…my life will just not be complete until I try this!! This looks soooo good!
you are a joke go get a life you know a job well you dont know what that is you are a bim bo
Ahhhmazing!! I’ve made this twice now and we can’t get enough. My husband “thinks” he doesn’t like cream in anything so whenever I’m using it in a recipe I try to hide it. Well, per usual, he came snooping around and spotted the cream on the counter. He groaned “you’re not putting cream in it are you?” I just smiled and told him not to worry. He took one bite and was hooked. This is soooo good! Thank you!
So glad you like it, and your husband too. They don’t need to know ‘everything’, do they?
so you say to lie to them is that the kind of person you are ? o i forgot you are a very heave wine drinker
This turned out great — thanks! I used the whole 8 oz. mushroom container because we love them :) For the noodles, I used extra wide egg noodles, but I think linguine would be great too. We’ll be keeping this in our repertoire – thank you!
My brother gave this a try last weekend and we just could not get enough of it. This dish is just so flavorful that you will not even put your plate down to watch the NBAs. Thank you for such an incredible recipe. You definitely have to try this people!
Oh marsala how I love you. And mushrooms. And pappardelle and oh I love it all!
I’m loving this dish – thank you so much for sharing it. The first time I ate pappardelle was when my husband and I visited San Francisco for the first time, shortly after we were married. I fell in love with those tender and wide from-scratch noodles. And I’m sorry to say that I’ve never cooked with marsala. I’m definitely going to be trying this!
I need to stop reading these at night. It makes me start in on late-night snacking!
Now I’m totally craving pasta. Looks amazing.
I love pappardelle pasta! Your marsala version sounds so good right now… May have to send the Hubs to the store :)
Mouthwatering, I’d love this for dinner tonight!
Y’know, the blog world is so full of recipes for complicated chocolate cake and dinners with eight-part instructions detailing the preparation of each ingredient… and actually sometimes proper dinners – dinners that come together quickly, are enjoyed by all and satisfy aching bellies – are just the sort we need more of, as they’re probably actually the most inspirational and widely-used!
You know, you’re probably 100% right which is why I think blogs are so popular since they’re real people making recipes for themselves instead of foofing them up and complicating them for customers that need to be impressed.
I’ll have to get the Marsala – might be the only way I can keep it safe from my husband. Anytime I go to make my risotto, the white wine is gone! Ahhh!.
This looks beautiful, yummy and perfect on a cold day.
Pappardelle noodles are my favorite!!!! So comforting. There is something to be said about a staple pasta sauce that is easy and can go with any kind of protein or noodle.My go to is usually fresh lemon juice and olive oil. I am seriously buying marsala tomorrow on my trip to the store! Along with some good Italian sausage.
Heidi, Can you get Sweet Marsala Wine locally in Utah anywhere?
It’s at the state liquor stores. I buy the sweetened variety.
This looks too good, can’t wait to try!
looks great girl!
Looks amazing! Definitely want to try this!
Pappardelle is my favorite pasta! I am loving this dish!
This is amazing, Heidi. I love Marsala wine, especially for cooking. It adds great flavor. I love the sausage in here too!
This is something I’d happily make weekly. Your suggestions for changing up the dish are spot-on. Portobello mushrooms? Yes, please! And double up on the masala wine for me, please.
I’m so in love with the taste of the marsala I end up adding a bit more to taste. Not to taste while I’m cooking, I save my bright chards for that :)
heidi you have showen that you have a very bad drinking problem with your wine drinking so i ask you to stop posting on hear about your cooking and your drinking ok just go away you need help like A A thay can and well help you if you ask them you need to stay away from hear you are not at all a goo person you are a drunk
This is my favorite type of pasta–large noodles and sausage! I love the addition of marsala, tomatoes, and peppers too. This looks so so good!
Thanks Natasha. I love the wide noodles too! Now I’m going to start making them at home, more rustic that way, although I do love the pasta noodles in the link, they’re really toothy.
I LOVE ribbony pappardelle pasta. . one of my faves!!! Love this! and I love the pasta tips!
Oh yum. I make a similar pasta dish to this one. You can’t beat these flavors!
I think I need to do an emergency grocery run and pick up some marsala wine so I can make this for dinner tonight!
Do it! And then you’ll have it on hand all the time to dash into most anything.
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I can’t even take this. Cannot. Take. This.
But I will in my mouth if that’s okay.
This sounds so incredibly delicious Heidi!