SAUSAGE & PEPPERS C. Braden inspired

No real recipe for this. You will need the following per person:

1 cup of good quality tomato-based sauce( BASIC TOMATO SAUCE)

1 green or red bell pepper cut into 2" chunks

1 tsp. finely minced garlic

1 tsp. Oil (not good virgin Italian . . . peanut or mac nut is O.K. for this)

Approx. 6 oz. Cooked Italian sausage cut into 1" chunks

3 oz. Dried pasta such as shells, penne, etc.

Directions:

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until just one minute of instructions on the box. Good quality Italian pasta has accurate cooking times for pasta . . . the American made pasta often says to cook it far too long.

As pasta is cooking, heat big skillet or pan over moderate heat, add peppers and minced garlic and sauté until a little cooked but still crisp. Add cooked pieces of Italian sausage to warm through. Then add the tomato-based sauce and bring to a boil.

If you are really good at this, the sauce mixture will come to a boil just as the pasta reaches the point of being one minute from being cooked. Take this one-minute-from-being-cooked pasta, quickly drain it (do not rinse) and add it to the lightly boiling tomato sauce with the peppers and sausage in it. Cook for one minute. This finishes up the last minute of the pasta’s cooking time and also allows for some of the tomato sauce to be absorbed by the pasta.