As I was sautéing a mound of hot Italian sausage for a stuffing for an event, I knew there was a little bit too much. Should I baggie it, throw it in the freezer to find it a year later, looking like freezer-burned dead squirrel? Or should I just cook it and use it for something in the next day or two? Cook it and get creative.

I’ve got plenty of baby tomatoes to roast from last week, and so Vegetable Bin Pasta was born. Rave reviews all around. Here’s the basic recipe, but feel free to add or substitute with veggies you’ve already got. Just be sure that the vegetable fits the flavor palate. Think: “Would I like to eat this with hot sausage?” There is a reason you don’t see delicate snow peas or bok choi with spicy Italian sausage. But mature garden peas or broccoli rabe would work beautifully. Also, don’t put too many different kinds of vegetables in the mix or it will become a muddied mess rather than delicious layered flavors. Be sure to precook most vegetables before you add them to the pan. Once all the ingredients for this dish are put together, the cook time is minimal. Peas can be added at the end like a cooked ingredient because they only take minutes to be edible, but if you are adding mushrooms for instance, sauté them when you are cooking the onions and garlic. Note: I consider onions and garlic a “neutral” like beige, so they don’t really count when keeping your vegetable variety low.

Here are some flavor combinations for vegetables that might be hanging around in your summer vegetable bin or pantry to add to the base combination of spicy sausage, tomatoes, onions and garlic.

Mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, and black olives
Broccoli and bell peppers
Cubed eggplant, zucchini, and bell peppers
Lima beans and corn

Let your imagination run wild! Here’s how I made mine:

Vegetable Bin Pasta

Ingredients:

2 TBL. Extra virgin olive oil
½-3/4 lb. hot Italian sausage, casing removed and crumbled
1 onion, medium dice
2 cloves of garlic, minced
½ green bell pepper, cleaned, seeded and medium dice
½ yellow bell pepper, cleaned, seeded and medium dice
1 recipe roasted baby tomatoes (see my recipe for roasted tomatoes)
¼ C of chicken broth
¼ C of white or red wine
1 lb. of hearty pasta, like Rigatoni or Penne, cooked according to package directions
¼ C of chopped parsley, basil or oregano
1/3 C of shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta according to package directions.
While the pasta is cooking, heat 1 TBL. olive oil on medium-hi heat in a large fry pan.
Remove the casing from the sausage and crumble it into the oil. Sauté until cooked through and a little brown.
Remove from the pan into a bowl and set aside. You should have a nice brown film on the bottom of the pan-brown not black. Black is called BURNED and it tastes exactly as it sounds. Get rid of it, wash it, or wipe it out. Brown is called FOND and you want that-it adds flavor.
Heat 1 TBL. olive oil in the same pan and sauté the onions until slightly brown.
Add the garlic and stir for about a minute. Keep it moving, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Add the peppers and any other vegetable you would need to cook and sauté until soft.
Add the wine and broth, scraping the bottom of the pan to incorporate all that good FOND. Deglazing is the term for this step.
Add the sausage back into the pan and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, tossing occasionally.
At this point the pasta should be finished. Scoop the pasta with a slotted spoon or spider into the hot sausage mixture and cook, tossing for a minute or two to combine the pasta with the sausage. If the mixture seems to thick, add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.
Add the herbs and toss again. Be sure to add the herbs at the last minute to maintain their fresh green color. Heat make herbs darken and turn grey, brown, or black.
Dish out and top with the shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano.