Weak in the knees Italian Sausage Pasta

I made this pasta for the first time about a four years ago and liked it so much that I make it at least once a month. This is pretty good for a someone who rarely makes the same thing twice. I love this dish because it's almost as easy as making hamburger helper, but tastes just like a restaurant dish. I have added and subtracted may of the ingredients at one time or other and it always turns out great, as long as you always include the Italian sausage. And please do not substitute the Italian for any other sausage. You will not get the flavor that you need for this dish out of any other sausage. I would also recommend sticking with pork sausage, but that is because I can't imagine it any other way.

Ingredients:

1 pound of cavatappi pasta (anything curly or with grooves in it, i.e fusili, rigatoni etc) 1 Tbs Olive Oil 1 Pound ground Italian Sausage, loose or casings removed (I like the hot kind)

1 pkg of sliced mushrooms

1/2 of a medium onion, diced finely 1/2 cup of white wine 1 medium Can of crushed or diced tomatoes (I prefer diced) 1/2 cup of heavy cream 1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, divided in half

Directions:

Cook your pasta according to the package directions, drain and set aside. Do NOT rinse the pasta. The starch that is on your pasta needs to stay there. This will help the sauce cling to the pasta better once you combine your pasta and sauce.

Place your oil in a large saute pan on medium high heat. Add the sausage and break up into chunks, cooking until it is almost done, but little bit of pink still shows. Add in your onions and mushrooms and saute until the onions are translucent and sausage is cooked through. Turn the heat down to medium and pour the wine into the pan and let reduce for two minutes. Add the can of tomatoes and reduce until almost all of the liquid is gone, approximately three to four minutes. Add the heavy cream and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and pour the sauce over the pasta. Garnish with more Parmesan cheese as desired.

enJoy!