I adored this spicy sausage and mushroom tomato sauce pasta when I was a kid. My mom always made it with spaghetti noodles, and half the fun was watching my brother eat it. He would suck each individual noodle through his lips, and then eat the sausage and mushrooms later. By the end of the meal, he’d have a whole pile of sauce-soaked napkins next to his plate. And he’d be huffing and puffing and drinking milk to try to alleviate the burning on his lips from slurping all that spiciness. I, on the other hand, didn’t want to waste any of that wonderful sauce, so spicy and heavily flavored by red wine (which I didn’t know at the time). I got really good at spinning sauce-laden spaghetti strands around my fork, then jabbing mushroom and sausage onto the end to hold it all in place as I jammed it into my face. I’ve enhanced the Guessipe further with diced tomatoes, which I love the freshness of.
Guessipe
- 1 lb pasta
- 1 lb spicy Italian sausage
- 1 onion, chopped
- 7 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 oz mushrooms, sliced
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 TBSP sugar
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tsp crushed basil
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- parmesan cheese
- 3 tomatoes, diced
- Salt and pepper
Boil the pasta of your choosing. I used fusilli here, which has lots of nooks and crannies to capture the spicy tomato sauce. I like my pasta al dente, so I typically boil it about 2 minutes less than whatever the package says. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta liquid before straining.
Remove the sausage from the casing and break it into bite-size pieces. Sauté it with the garlic and onion until the sausage is browned.
Add the mushrooms and continue to cook until the mushrooms start to soften.
Add the tomato sauce, wine, and all of the seasonings.
Stir and let come to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove from the heat. Pour the cooked pasta, the 1/2 cup reserved pasta water, and the tomatoes into the pot of sauce. Mix gently until the pasta is well coated. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Parmesan cheese grated over the top.
