It’s funny how some of our best recipes come from happy accidents and necessity. This recipe is just that…a fabulous recipe that came from a night when I needed to cook dinner and cobbled together whatever I could find in the refrigerator and pantry.
I’ve always been a huge advocate for a well stocked pantry and freezer basics, and on that particular night, it helped me create a dinner that is now a family favorite and published in a Taste of Home magazine. With some very basic ingredients–pasta, frozen peas, half & half, parmesan cheese, and sausage–we created Creamy Pasta Rags with Turkey Sausage.
The concept of the pasta rag is genius. Rather than cook whole lasagna pasta and cut it up afterwards, we break uncooked lasagna sheets into rough, odd-sized pieces and then cook them. The end result is a rustic, thick-cut pasta that is perfect for creamy sauces.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked lasagna noodles (about 10 noodles), broken into 2-in. pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 Italian turkey sausage links (about 1 pound), casings removed
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 cups half-and-half cream
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Additional grated Parmesan cheese, optional
Instructions
- Cook broken noodles according to package directions for al dente. Drain; rinse with water and drain again. Toss with oil to coat.
- In a large skillet, cook sausage with onion over medium-high until no longer pink, 5-7 minutes, breaking up sausage into 3/4-in. pieces. Add garlic; cook and stir 1 minute.
- Stir in peas, pepper and cream; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, 8-10 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese. Stir in noodles.
- Serve immediately. If desired, serve with additional cheese.
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