Pasta with Italian Sweet Sausage and Burst Cherry Tomatoes

2 Italian Sweet Sausages

1 10 oz container of cherry or grape tomatoes

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Pasta of your choice (I used spaghetti)

Remove the sausage from the links, crumble and brown over medium heat in a non stick pan.

Meanwhile, put the water for your pasta on to boil.  I wanted the water to be particularly starchy so I did not use the usually recommended amount of water.  When the water is boiling, salt it and add the pasta.  Set the timer for 2 minutes less than the recommended time for your pasta.

Once the sausage is completely browned (it doesn’t cook much longer later, so it needs to be completely cooked through at this step) remove the sausage to a plate, and do not drain off the fat from the sausage.  Add the tomatoes to the hot pan.

Stir the tomatoes occasionally until they start to get charred, then start pressing down on them to burst the tomatoes.

Once all the tomatoes are burst, add back the sausage and 1 tsp (to taste) red pepper flakes.

Stir to combine.

The pasta should be done now, so be sure to reserve the pasta water, and add the pasta to the sausage and tomatoes, stirring to combine.  Add some of the reserved pasta water if you need to loosen the pasta a bit.  Season with salt and pepper as needed.

And that is it!  There is so much flavor.  The ratio of sausage to tomatoes works with just two sausages and 10 oz of tomatoes.  Don’t skip the red pepper flakes, otherwise the Sweet Italian Sausage is a little bland.