Mama's Favorite Pasta

Croats, whether on Point Cadet or back in the Old Country, eat pasta just about every day.

Nona usually put the big macaroni in her dishes. The kind that can get rubbery when reheated. The kind that seems to grow larger in little mouths the longer it is chewed.

When my mom was a little girl, every night she used to pray fervently that the macaroni factory would burn down.

Eventually, she got over her disdain for pasta, although her preferences always tended toward the skinny kinds like vermicelli or thin spaghetti rather than the thick and tubular types. She made great daube, killer lasagna and a fancy chicken and pecan fettuccine.

But my all-time favorite was the sausage and pepper spaghetti she made for company (and for my sister and me if we were really good). The original recipe came from Bon Appetit magazine, but she changed it in her own inimitable way. My sister makes this for special occasions like Christmas; she likes the festiveness of the red and green peppers. I make it as comfort food.

You can use Italian or smoked sausage. Mama preferred smoked beef sausage. Hillshire Farms markets something that’s a blend of Italian and smoked that I like. Using a mixture of green, red and yellow bell peppers makes the prettiest presentation, but taste-wise, it really doesn't matter.

Any kind of pasta works in this dish. Mama, of course, preferred thin spaghetti, but I don’t have a problem putting it over penne.

The biggest area where I differ from Mama in the way I make the dish is in the amount of tomato sauce used. Mama didn’t like her sauce too tomato-y so she crushed up only three tomatoes out of an entire can. I prefer my sauce a little juicier so I use more or- just use a can of crushed tomatoes from the get-go.

Mama always served this with homemade garlic bread, a green salad and orange sherbet for dessert.

Pepper Sausage Spaghetti

2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp salad oil
3/4 lb of smoked sausage, sliced thin or Italian sausage, crumbled
3 chopped tomatoes with juice (canned tomatoes) NOTE: I use 1 can of crushed tomatoes with juice
1 cup chopped parsley
2 cloves minced garlic
2 peppers sliced (1 red, 1 green or yellow)
1 tsp. oregano
2 dashes hot sauce

In a large skillet, saute sausage in oils 8-10 minutes. Discard most of the oil and add the rest of the ingredients and simmer 10 minutes. Boil and drain 3/4 lbs. of pasta of thin spaghetti (or pasta of your choice) and add to sauce and toss well with 1/4 cup chopped parsley and 3-4 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated (Mama always used Kraft out of the can, but I prefer to grate my own from a wedge). Serve from skillet.

Photo: My mom, Toni, in Biloxi, circa 1954.