Impromptu Pasta

Impromptu Pasta with sausage veggie sauce, garlic bread and caprese salad.

ingredients -

garlic
1 yellow onion
2 zucchinis
3-4 tomatoes
5 Italian sausages - basil and garlic- from Trader Joe's
fresh basil
fresh whole wheat pasta (or use any kind of pasta you like)
1-2 balls of fresh mozzarella (probably like fist sized ones)
1 jar of trader joe's basil and garlic marinara sauce - or really any kind you like
1/2 cube of butter
olive oil
loaf of whole wheat bread

Turn the oven on 350 to preheat. Turn your frying pan on med heat and heat up. Drop a tablespoon of olive oil in the pan. When the pan is warm toss in the sausage. Cook until brown on all sides and no longer pink in the middle. Probably like 10-15 minutes. While the sausages are cooking get to prepping for the rest of the sauce.

Pull off about 15 basil leaves from stems and wash them, and set aside.
slice your remainder tomatoes for the caprese salad. I turn my tomatoes on the side and slice them width-wise or whatever you call it - into pretty good size slices. Put them on a plate.

slice the mozzarella balls into thick circles as well and place on top of the tomato slices
place 1-2 basil leaves on each tomato-mozzarella stack. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper lightly
Place in fridge to chill

slice the bread - or if its already sliced, put it on a cookie sheet and set aside.

get a small sauce pan and put the 1/2 cube of butter in it on low low heat. We will add garlic to this and cook for a while and eventually put on the bread for it's garlic sauce

Okay dice three cloves of garlic (half for the garlic bread and half for the sauce)
dice half of one yellow onion -
dice one tomato for the sauce
Dice a handful of washed basil
set aside. If you want you can put the garlic and onion in one bowl and the tomato, zucchini and basil in another

When the sausage is almost done put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Obviously depending on what kind of pasta you used depends on how long it will take to cook. Fresh pasta only takes a few minutes.

Check your melty butter. If its melted - add the remainder of your set aside garlic and let that cook on low for a while. The house should start smelling good. Open up a bottle of wine and pour yourself a cup. Enjoy.

When the sausage is finished remove it from the pan but leave the drippings Take the sausage and Chunk it. I mean, slice it into thick chunks--, add the garlic and onions to the sausage drippings and brown - return the sausage to the pan, add zucchini, tomato and sauce and then simmer

Check your melted garlic butter sauce. If the garlic smells good and has had a chance to cook for a while, spoon it over your bread and put it in the oven for about 10 minutes.

When the sauce has simmered and the zucchini has cooked so its tender, and your pasta is done cooking, drain the pasta and mix with the sauce. Turn your oven on broil for about a minute to get that garlic bread crispy- but watch that it doesn't burn.

Serve pasta, take out that caprese salad, give everyone some garlic bread and pour yourself another glass of wine.
Enjoy