Quick And Creamy Sausage And Pasta - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 lb cavatappi pasta
1 lb Italian sausage (mild or hot)
1 cup sweet onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups canned tomatoes, strained and diced (If you want to use fresh tomatoes, add them to the mixture with the onion and garlic)
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
1 cup half and half milk
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (optional) or 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, to garnish (optional)
fresh parsley, basil (optional) or green onion, chopped to garnish (optional)

Preparation

Put large pot of salted water on high and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile, squeeze sausage meat out of the casings into a large frying pan, over medium-high heat. Roughly chop meat. When the sausage is no longer pink, add onion and garlic to the pan. Stir and saute until onion is softened.
Add pasta to water and cook for 1 minute less than the minimum time recommended on the package. At the same time, add tomatoes, basil and half and half to the sausage mixture. Season with salt and pepper and lightly simmer sauce while pasta is cooking.
Strain pasta and add to sausage mixture. Turn heat down to medium and let flavors mix together until cavatappi is cooked to your liking.
Plate the pasta and top with optional cheese and parsley, basil or green onion.
Note: other shaped pasta work well too if cavatappi not available).