Spicy Sausage Fettuccine

If you're a fan of spicy & sausage, this is a great recipe for you!

Now for the disclaimer...this was the first time I ever cooked with link sausage. As soon as I opened the package and started to slice the sausage, I was slightly weirded out. There's this plastic-y stuff on the outside of the sausages! I had no clue what I was supposed to do with it...peel it off, cut through it and cook with it on there? So, I turned to my good old friend, the internet. According to Bon Appetit, you can snip off the end and squeeze the sausage out. bleah. However, according to The Spicy Sausage, if you take the casings off the sausage, it will lose it's shape and become more like ground meat, rather than those nice little disc-looking-things they are supposed to be. I went with The Spicy Sausage's method and voted to leave the casings on. My knife set is not the s

harpest thing on earth, so the sausage didn't slice very well. Bummer. After a long time struggling with casings, my knife, and the sausage, I finally got it all "cut" - or at least maimed - into smaller pieces. THAT is my sausage link experience. Back to the recipe.

All things aside, this recipe has an awesome flavor and is really big on it. The original recipe is from Simple & Delicious (of course) and is posted here. However, I changed so many things - some on purpose; some because I just didn't have the ingredients the recipe called for - that I thought I would just write out what I did rather than have an abundance of explanations after each ingredient. So, without further ado, here she is:

Ingredients

9 oz. fettuccine

1 1/4 lb link italian sausage, cut into 1/2" slices

1 medium onion, chopped

1 yellow pepper, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup whipping cream (I used half&half bc that's all I had. whipping cream would be better, though!)

Directions

Cook noodles according to package directions. Meanwhile, cook sausage, peppers, and onion in skillet for 6-8 minutes or until sausage is cooked through and veggies are tender. Add salt, pepper & red pepper and cook one minute longer. Add tomatoes & whipping cream (or half&half:) and heat through. Serve with fettuccine. I mixed the noodles in the skillet and heated a little longer so the flavors would get in the pasta & not just be on top.

yummy!

If you have any better ideas about what to do with sausage links, do share!! I am open to advice. :)