Easy Brees-y Pasta

Today's offering is a combination of fantastic simple flavors.  This pasta dish is more of a method more than it's a recipe.  It has base ingredients or base sauce and you can pick and choose which "extras" to add to suit your taste.  Talk about a a keeper! 

Also Easy Brees-y Pasta is a tasty side for your Super Bowl Party; believe me people will come back for more!

Preheat over medium-low heat a large high sided skillet or pot and saute 4 cloves of thinly sliced garlic for about one minute.

Add 2 pints of cherry tomatoes and drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the tomatoes and season with kosher salt and black pepper. Leave the temperature on medium-low and slowly roast the tomatoes and garlic for about 40 to 45 minutes. 

You will see juices coming from the tomatoes into the pan.

While the tomatoes are roasting, heat another large pot over med-high heat and add in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Once the oil is heated, add 1 lb. of sweet Italian sausage to the pot and brown.  Once the sausage has browned, remove from pot, drain and reserve.

To the same pot, add 1 more tablespoon of olive oil and three baby zucchinis, peeled and sliced and 4 ounces of sliced cremini mushrooms.  Saute until the zucchini pieces start to brown around the edges and the mushroom slices are golden brown.  This should take about 5 minutes.

Heat the water to boil 1 lb. of your favorite short pasta.

Add the sausage back to the pan and lower heat to simmer.

Once the tomatoes are roasted, put about a half dozen tomatoes on the side and reserve for later.

Pour the remaining tomatoes and garlic into a heat safe container and use an immersion blender to puree. 

Pour the "sauce" back into the pot it came from.  Season the sauce with a teaspoon of sugar.

 Add the sausage and veggies to the pan with the sauce. 

Add in 1/2 cup of chicken stock or broth to thin out the sauce a bit.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Heat through to a low simmer.

Toss the cooked and drained pasta into the pot and thoroughly combine with the meat and vaggies.

Garnish with the reserved tomatoes, basil and Parmesan.