Quick & Easy restaurant-style spicy sausage Bolognese with vegetables, tomatoes, fire roasted red peppers, herbs and mascarpone served over rigatoni pasta topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, fresh basil and ricotta.

This is one of those recipes that feels restaurant worthy but we have simplified it and reduced the cooking time so you don’t have to spend the day prepping and cooking this “Sunday sauce” all you need is at most an hour set aside to make dinner.

Basically, we sauté ground spicy Italian sausage with olive oil, bacon, carrots, celery garlic and onion, and then add tomatoes and pureed fire roasted red peppers to it — all that rich, flavorful stuff turns the tomatoes into a tangy, slightly acidic sauce. Right before serving, we stir in mascarpone cheese which adds tang and creaminess to the sauce with a handful of chopped thyme, basil and oregano through the sauce and noodles. The flavor is spicy, fresh and herby, it’s definitely a comfort food.

Pasta night is definitely a night everyone loves and in our family it doesn’t happen so often so its really like a cheat meal for us where we really go all out and make loads of garlic bread and of course go over top with the freshly grated parmesan cheese making dinner time feel like we are in an authentic Italian restaurant.

A lot of “Sunday sauce” or Bolognese recipes have red wine which you need to reduce and cook down, in this version we skipped the wine and decided to puree some fire roasted red peppers and used that as the liquid mixed with our San Marzano tomatoes to form the basis of our sauce. The fire roasted red peppers make the sauce vibrant and add to the level of spiciness. If spicy is not your thing you can use tomato paste mixed with a bit of broth.

To finish off your pasta, we loaded it with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, fresh chopped basil, a spoonful of ricotta and then drizzle a bit of olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper.  OH and don’t forget to serve this alongside your favorite garlic bread for that true authentic Italian feeling.

Fill up your plate and grab a seat at our table!

Cheers!

@thecommunalfeast

Print Recipe

QUICK SPICY SAUSAGE BOLOGNESE

Quick & Easy restaurant-style spicy sausage Bolognese with vegetables, tomatoes, fire roasted red peppers, herbs and mascarpone served over rigatoni pasta topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, fresh basil and ricotta.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Course: Comfort Food

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: 4

Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

• 1 lbs spicy Italian ground sausage can use sausages just remove the meat from the casings
• 3 slices thick cut bacon chopped
• ½ yellow onion finely chopped
• 1 large carrot grated and finely chopped
• 1 celery rib cleaned and finely chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic grated
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp dried basil
• ½ 28oz can San Marzano tomatoes
• 3 fire roasted red peppers pureed in a blender
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano
• Rigatoni pasta
• Salt & pepper
• 2 tbsp mascarpone
• Garnish:
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Fresh chopped basil
• Ricotta
• Olive oil
• Fresh cracked pepper

Instructions

• 1. Cook bacon in a large cast iron pan or dutch oven over medium heat until crisp -5 minutes
• 2. Next add the chopped onions, stir for 1 minute, then add the carrots, celery, sausage, garlic, basil and oregano. Season with salt & pepper. Brown the sausage all over breaking
  up the meat as you go. -10 minutes
• 3. Boil water and cook pasta according to directions
• 4. Using your hands, add the San Marzano tomatoes with some of the liquid making sure to squeeze the tomatoes in your hands to break them up into small pieces over the pot. Add the pureed roasted red pepper along with fresh chopped thyme and fresh chopped oregano. If the sauce needs more liquid add a bit of broth. Taste and adjust season with more salt & pepper.
• 5. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce the heat while your pasta cooks. The sauce needs about 15-20 minutes on the stove top to bring out the flavor. Stir in mascarpone cheese and simmer for 2 minutes
• 6. Add the rigatoni pasta to the sauce stirring everyone together. If the sauce is to thick add some broth to help coat the pasta. Once the noodles are hot your ready to plate
• 7. Divide the pasta among bowls, garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese then add a dollop of ricotta cheese to each bowl, drizzle with a bit of olive oil, season with fresh cracked black pepper and finish with fresh chopped basil
• Serve with garlic bread, enjoy!