Italian Sausage with Pasta and Herb Butter

This recipe came from print ad from Johnsonville. I'm not sure if it's on their website or not. Of course, their photo is much more appetizing than mine. I used penne pasta instead of campanelle, and didn't include any mozzarella cheese this time.

We enjoyed this recipe. But be forewarned; with the sausage and herb butter it's not as light as it looks. I served it with garlic toast (using some of the basil-garlic butter from the pasta recipe) and raspberry sherbet over brownie cookies.

BTW, the tomatoes were store-bought. Since we haven't received any tomatoes in our CSA bags yet, and there was a sign near the tomatoes saying they came from locations that had been approved by the FDA, I went ahead and bought some. Hopefully, this tomato/salmonella scare will be over soon.


Italian Sausage with Campanelle Pasta and Herb Butter
From the kitchen at Johnsonville Sausage

1 cup butter, softened
7 large basil leaves, minced
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon coarse ground pepper
1 package (16 ounce) Campanelle pasta
1 pound Johnsonville ground Italian sausage (I used links, casings removed)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes
6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cubed

In a bowl, combine the butter, basil, garlic and pepper; set aside. Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a skillet, cook and crumble sausage until no longer pink; drain and set aside. Drain pasta; transfer to a large bowl. Add sausage and half the herb butter; stir gently. Add two-thirds of the tomatoes and cheese; toss until coated.

Top with remaining tomatoes and cheese. Top with additional herb butter if desired. Serve immediately. (Refrigerate remaining herb butter or spread on bread).

6 servings.

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365 Day Clutter Challenge - Day 7: When helping a friend move a year or so ago, he gave us many bottles of household cleaning products that he didn't want to take with him. I sorted through them for things I won't use. If they were already opened, I tossed them. I listed the unopened bottles under the FREE category on craigslist.