One Pot Tomato Basil Pasta with Italian Sausage

Photo by Katie Kay

I loved the original photo of this recipe on Pinterest (link under recipe below) but I was doubtful of how flavorful it would be.  So I took a perfectly good vegetarian (and vegan, mom!) recipe and made some carnivorous changes to it.  The end result was so delicious, and a nice variation of most of the pasta sauces we eat.
Have I ever mentioned my love of garlic?  Yes, perhaps if you read my last post you'd have an idea.  My mom went to the Asian market close to my house and picked up a giant bag of pre-peeled, fresh garlic for $5, then she had enough to share it with both of her grateful daughters!  She left an entire tupperware dish in my fridge packed to the brim with more gorgeous, fragrant, pre-peeled garlic cloves than I know what to do with.  Of course these bad boys were begging to take swan dives into this pot of basil and tomato awesomeness, and with all this garlic to spare, how much did I put in?
I take the expression "no such thing as too much garlic" to heart.  Any time you see a recipe of mine that calls for 3 cloves of garlic, it means I put twice that.  Okay, maybe 3 times that.  Or if the recipe asks for a tablespoon of garlic, that means 2 or 3 heaping spoonfuls.  
Sometimes I lie about the amount of garlic I use because I feel ashamed and embarrassed.  Kind of like my love of salt, only less bad for me.
I'm going to go ahead and be honest with you in my recipe below.  Stop looking at me with your judging eyes.

Photo by Katie Kay

One Pot Tomato Basil Pasta with Italian Sausage
1 lb linguine pasta, uncooked 1 lb Italian sausage (skip this, vegans!) 2 15oz cans fire-roasted diced tomatoes 1 large onion, julienned 10 cloves of fresh garlic, sliced into rounds 1 tsp red pepper flakes 2 tsp dried oregano 3 tsp Italian seasoning 1 4oz container fresh basil, washed and stems trimmed eyeball about 5 cups chicken broth (vegetable broth for vegans) 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (infused if you have it! I used a spicy chili EVOO that I got in Napa) Parmesan cheese for garnish for you non-vegans
In a Dutch oven, cook sausage until browned.  Break pasta in half, then add to pot.  Add tomatoes, onions, garlic, pepper flakes, oregano, Italian seasoning, fresh basil, chicken broth, and olive oil. 
I eyeballed my broth but I think it was about 5 cups.  Not everything in the pot was covered, but I'd say it was about 3/4 covered by the broth.  Maybe a little more than that.
Cover pot and bring to a boil.  Uncover, and cook for additional 10 minutes or until at desired consistency.  I had to stir mine VERY frequently (every 2 or 3 minutes) to prevent sticking to the bottom.
I left it a little juicy and did not cook all the broth away.  The leftovers stored better with some juice in them and reheated very well.
Source:  ApronStringsBlog.com