Kitchen Garden Journal

• 1 lb penne pasta
• 5-6 brightly colored sweet peppers
• Olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 8 oz sweet Italian sausage meat
• 1 pint tomato puree
• Salt & pepper ½ cup heavy cream
• Freshly torn basil leaves

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Remove stems and seeds from peppers and cut into bite sized pieces. Toss with a liberal amount of olive oil. Roast peppers for 1 hour on a large baking sheet, stirring from time to time, until limp and blistered. Set aside. Heat the pasta water. Brown the sausage meat in a little olive oil in a wide heavy skillet. (We like to use Pekarski’s sausage from their family smokehouse in S. Deerfield. They use plenty of fat and a nice amount of fennel seed in their mix.) If you have links, squeeze the filling out of the casings. When the meat is nice and brown, add the finely minced garlic and sauté for another 2-3 minutes. Add the tomato puree and roasted peppers. Cook the sauce for 10 minutes or so to meld the flavors (just long enough for your pasta to cook).  Remove sauce from the heat and stir in the cream and basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (For a spicy version, add a few shakes of pepper flakes when you add the garlic.) Combine with the pasta and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Even better the next day.