Super Simple Supper!
This is a one dish dinner.
(That brings up an important question…when you hear one dish dinner, do you think of it being a dinner that is SERVED in one dish, or COOKED in one dish?!)
So this is technically a one dish served dinner…as the whole meal is in one bowl. But it was cooked in 2 pots…a pot for the pasta, and a skillet for the sausage, then the veggies.
Would love to know you thoughts!
Now for the recipe…but be warned…it’s a $6 dinner! The key to this meal…it uses an expensive lean all natural sausage that costs nearly $5…but when paired with inexpensive pasta and veggies all from the garden, it’s not as terribly priced as it could be! It’s all about the balance!
Rigatoni with Italian Sausage and Red Peppers
Servings - 4 persons
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Italian sausage ($4.85) WHAT?!? I know...this is the 100% all natural, grass fed sausage from the farmer's market.
- 1 lb. Rigatoni pasta ($.79) Manager's special
- 1/2 yellow onion ($.15)
- 1 red pepper, from the garden
- 1 green pepper, from the garden
- 1 banana pepper, from the garden
- 2 medium tomatoes, from the garden
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed ($.15)
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese ($.25) Optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Brown the sausage in a skillet. Once browned, place onto a plate with paper towels to drain/absorb the grease. Pour off any excess grease, leaving just a little to saute the veggies.
- While browning, start the pasta. Cook the rigatoni according to package directions. Set aside 1/3 cup pasta cooking water and drain.
- Chop all the veggies and crush the garlic. In the same skillet that you browned the sausage, saute the veggies for 5 to 7 minutes, or until peppers begin to soften.
- Toss the cooked rigatoni, the 1/3 cup pasta cooking water, browned sausage and the sauteed veggies in the saucepan or in a large mixing bowl. (Optional...sprinkle in some parmesan cheese.)
- Serve Rigatoni with Italian Sausage and Red Peppers.
Rebecca says
Personally, I usually think of it as cooked in one dish. The big draw, for us at least, is that you don’t have a bunch of dishes to clean up afterwards.
That looks delicious.
Megan says
Cooked in one dish and served in one dish. That’s my kinda meal.
Kim Yamaguchi says
This looks super yummy! (when I hear the term I think of cooked all in one dish). Really yummy.
Is this 4 servings? I would need to double it but still, a good deal!
Barb says
A one-dish dinner is COOKED in one dish.
Amy Bayliss says
Well I am quite possibly being too technical here but we call a dish cooked in only one pot a one pot dinner. A dish served in one dish is a one dish dinner.
For example, when we make jambalaya the rice, meat, veggies and seasonings are all cooked in one pot.
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
Yes it is 4 servings…served our family plus at least 1 lunch’s worth of leftovers. 1 lb. of pasta goes a long way!
ami kim says
One dish meal means no arguments about who has to do dishes 🙂
Jane says
This sounds so good! And it is very similar to a dish I saw prepared on Food Network just today! How funny is that?
I love one dish dinners and I would consider it to be made in one pot (except for the use of cutting boards and such) and eaten in one dish unless you needed cut up veggies or something on the side. At our house we follow Rachael Ray and call them “One Pot Wonders.”
🙂
Jane
Alltogetherbeautiful.blogspot.com
Catherine says
To me, one-pot, one-dish, “skillet meals” all mean that you only have to get one pot/dish/skillet dirty in the process of making it. Now, cleaning the pot the pasta was boiled in isn’t too difficult, so I’ll let this one slide. 😉
And a note – for those who don’t mind non-organic, non-grass-fed, non-fancy-pants meat, our local grocery store butcher counter usually has loose Italian sausage on sale for $0.99/lb a few times a year. I bet you could find similar deals in other areas.
Allison says
One-dish is, to me, cooked in one dish–meaning simple and easy clean-up (and more time to spend with my little girl!)
Andrea @ Saving Everyday says
Mmmmm sausage and pasta…a girl after my own heart. Looks delicious! I consider a one dish meal one that is cooked in one pot 🙂
Larissa says
One dish means one pot to me…but it’s still better than a recipe that requires every pot and pan you own! 🙂
I love the blog and recipes but can’t even imagine doing most of the recipes for $5. Regular grocery store bought italian sausage always costs around this much if not more…heaven forbid I spend cash on organic/farm direct, etc. I think of these yummy recipes as affordable for the average family dinners. 🙂
Thanks for sharing them with us…..
Jennifer says
I just found this recipe and am looking so forward to getting my garden going! This will be my first year, but I’m going to try the recipe this week because I already have the meat in the freezer. 🙂