Spicy Sausage Pasta with Homemade Sauce

Here we are… another installment of $10 dinners. Well I guess it’s only the second installment so it’s kind of a stretch to call this a recurring segment… but the intention is there so I’m counting it! If you didn’t read the last one you can find it here: Roasted Chicken Thighs with Root Veggies. I decided to write these because I see so many fast food commercials promoting $20 for dinner for 4 like it’s some awesome value. This just isn’t true – you can make something a lot healthier and yummier at home for half the price… so then I decided to prove it! And here we are. Back story complete. On to front story. This week we have: Spicy Sausage Pasta with Homemade Sauce, Parmesan Fricos, and Roasted Broccoli.

You read that right. This $10 dinner for 4 is a homemade pasta sauce, with spicy sausage, topped off with a Parmesan frico and a side of broccoli. And I did it all for $9.72. Really. Here’s the proof!

Okay so you may have to zoom in on that receipt a little, but I assure you it says $9.72. To be fair all my $10 dinners (maybe I should say both since there are only two… commitment… I committing to this… there will be more!). Anyway. My $10 dinners assume you have a couple tablespoons of oil on hand, salt + pepper, a pinch or two of either flour or sugar. Most houses have these and the per-serving cost is low. Other than that I buy everything for the dinner and count the whole price of the item even if I only use part of it.

For this dinner you can choose any pasta. I chose wagon wheels because cute! ? I love wagon wheels, there isn’t any pasta dish that can be more fun than those with wagon wheels. If you’re not a 9 year old inside then try out penne or rigatoni or even elbows.

My favorite part of this dish may have been the frico. Frico is fancy talk for baked cheese. Literally, you make a little pile of cheese and you bake it until it’s crunchy and delicious. These were a last minute decision. I bought a bag of shredded Parmesan to season the sauce and sprinkle on top of the pasta because well pasta + cheese = ?. But I had a lot left. So I channeled my inner Chopped Kitchen wanna be and used what I had left. It really was the perfect touch to dinner and made it feel like something super fancy. Try getting that at a fast food place. Bam. Pow. Pop.

Do you see that. I wasn’t kidding. Take out a pan. Put down something non-stick. Make a pile of cheese. Flatten pile of cheese. Cook pile of cheese until crunchy and bubbly. Eat pile of cheese calling it frico so people don’t think you’re a fatty that eats piles of cheese. The End.

Spicy Sausage Pasta with Homemade Sauce Recipe

serves 4 (duh!)

Ingredients

1 lbs hot Italian Sausage, bulk or with casing removed
1 small onion, chopped
pinch of red pepper flake
1 28oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 lbs pasta
1 6oz bag of shredded Parmesan
1.5 lbs broccoli, cut into florets
drizzle of oil (olive, canola, whatever)
salt + pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the broccoli with a drizzle of oil and salt and pepper. Place in pre-heated oven and roast for about 25 minutes, stirring half way through.
Cook the pasta according to the package.
In a dutch oven saute the onion with the sausage, over medium heat, until the onion is translucent and tender and the sausage is cooked through – about 8-10 minutes.
Add a pinch of red pepper flake and the crushed tomatoes. Stir to combine. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, on a baking sheet topped with a non-stick topper (silpat or tin foil) place 4 small piles of cheese, about 2-3 T. each. Flatten cheese so it’s one, continuous thin layer (see picture above). Place in the 400 degree oven and bake until browned and bubbly (10-15 minutes).
When the pasta is done toss with the sauce and 1/2 cup of the remaining Parmesan cheese.
To serve top the pasta with a sprinkle of Parm and the frico with the broccoli on the side.