Pasta With Roasted Peppers, Sausage, & Goat Cheese

I make up a LOT of pasta dishes.  Like…a lot.  But it’s only once in a blue moon I create one that becomes a life staple.  This recipe is one of the all-timers, a hearty and indulgent pasta with roasted peppers and red onion, crisp chicken sausage, and a creamy goat cheese sauce.  It’s my dreams in pasta form.

Specifically, I recommend sticking with yellow and orange bell (or sweet) peppers for this, because they have a mildness to them that really complements the tangy goat cheese.  And similarly, the bite of red onion is definitely a winner over yellow or white.  Then give them that delicious caramelization from roasting, and it’s sublime.

Chop up your veggies into slightly bigger-than-bite-size pieces (they shrink a little as they roast). I went with orange and yellow peppers because 1) they were on sale, and 2) they’re more mellow than red pepper, which can be kind of intense.

Line a baking sheet with foil (so much less cleaning up!), toss all the veggies on there, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with fresh-ground salt and pepper.

Bake at 425 F for around 20 minutes, until they’re nice and a little shriveled and browned.

Boil water for the pasta, then add salt and the pasta. Cook until al dente, likely 6-9 minutes. Save out like a half-cup of pasta water to help thin out your sauce and make it stick better.

While the veggies are baking and the pasta is boiling, slice up your chicken sausage and saute them in a skillet with a little olive oil, just get them nice and browned.

I had some fresh rosemary on hand, so I chopped that up and threw it in with the sausage.

Like so. And garlic, there was garlic.

And goat cheese, because you can never go wrong with goat cheese and it’s one of the best cheeses at spreading out and creating a sauce.

Toss everything together, adding the pasta water to thin out the goat cheese if necessary.

Et voila!

One thing I liked about this dish was that it heats up really well as leftovers. There was enough sauce on it and the veggies were moist enough that it didn’t become that weird, dry sauceless leftover pasta that you dread re-heating.

Other pasta faves you’ll love:

• Baked Whole Wheat Penne with Summer Veggies & Beef
• Garlicky Farfalle with Marinated Feta & Arugula
• Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash, Kale, & Chicken Sausage
• Giovanna’s Pasta con Pesto

Pasta With Roasted Peppers, Sausage, & Goat Cheese

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

This pasta with roasted peppers, chicken sausage, and a creamy goat cheese sauce has become a family favorite over the years...delicious, hearty, indulgent, and super easy!

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Ingredients

• 16 ounces of fun curly or ruffly pasta (I like trottole, gigli, etc.)
• 4 ounces of fresh goat cheese (log, not crumbles)
• Chicken sausage links (I use Trader Joe's sun-dried tomato ones)
• 2-3 cloves of minced garlic
• Chopped rosemary
• Orange & yellow bell pepper
• 1 small-ish red onion
• Olive oil
• Fresh-ground salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Chop up your veggies into slightly bigger-than-bite-size pieces (they shrink a little as they roast) and toss on a baking sheet lined with foil. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with fresh-ground salt and pepper.
2. Bake the veggies at 425 F for around 20 minutes, until they're nice and a little shriveled and browned.
3. While the veggies are roasting, cut the sausages into coins and saute for a couple minutes in some olive oil til golden. Throw in the garlic and chopped rosemary as well.
4. Boil water for the pasta, then add salt and the pasta. Cook until al dente, likely 6-9 minutes. Save like a half-cup of pasta water to help thin out your sauce and make it stick better, then drain the rest of the pasta.
5. Chop or break up the goat cheese into a bowl and add the roasted veggies, sausage, and cooked pasta. Start to toss, adding a little pasta water as needed to get a good thick and even coating. Serve hot.

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