Ah…do I need to say more…pasta, sausage and cream …AND it only takes one pot and 20 minutes from start to finish, but wait there is more, its not just another boring pasta recipe, you can load this dish with quite a few fresh vegetables (I only use onions and tomatoes but you could also add some peppers or green asparagus) if you like – that makes this dish perfect for a speedy and somewhat healthy (you could leave out the cream and cheese but we know how that tastes ;-)) weeknight dinner.

The way how I ladled the dish onto the plate gives the impression that there is no sauce, but the contrary is the case, you will have a LOT of sauce. Just for “optic” reasons it looked better not to ladel the entire sauce into the bowls :-).

Ingredients for 4 portions

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 Andouille sausages, cut into thin slices
• 1/2 cup diced onions (if you don’t like onions substitute with 1 Tbsp. onion salt)
• 1 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic salt
• 1 sprig fresh Thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
• 5 fresh basil leaves cut into think strips (or 1/2 tsp dried basil)
• 1/4 tsp pepper flakes
• 2 cups chicken broth – I usually use the granules but in this case I think the ready chicken broth out of the container tastes actually better (best of course would be your own chicken broth, so if you have some left over from making chicken noodle soup freeze it and use it for this recipe)
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 10 oz. can diced tomatoes – or if you have use your own garden tomoatos
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup cream (or just use 3/4 cup half and half – or less if you don’t want it too liquid)
• 8 oz. uncooked penne pasta
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar Jack cheese
• Chopped scallions or chives for garnish
• top with additional fresh diced tomatoes and a couple sprigs of Thyme that makes this super simple dish look great and the fresh tomatoes indeed give it a fresh spring taste (together with the fresh herbs)

This must be my favorite recipe because the directions sounds like this:

1. Brown sausage and onions in the olive oil, add the garlic and continue to cook for 30 seconds, then add the rest, stir, bring to a boil, then reduce to low heat and let simmer for 15 minutes. Do a quick taste test before the dish is done and see if you have to season it a little bit more with salt and pepper.
2. Ladle the dish onto a nice place, sprinkle  a little bit of cheese, fresh cut diced tomatoes and chives/scallions on top, and decorate with 2 sprigs of thyme – DONE!

Guten Appetit!