Mascarpone & Basil Tomato Sauce with Chicken Sausage

You really can't go wrong with these basic ingredients, no matter how you combine them. But here's how I go about it:

What You Need:

• An onion, diced.
• Olive oil, a... dollop?
• A few cloves of garlic, chopped.
• 1 big can of crushed tomatoes with basil.
• 1/2 small can of tomato paste.
• Lots of fresh basil, chopped.
• Sun-dried tomato & basil chicken sausage.
• Mascarpone cheese!!

Put it All Together:

• Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add onion to soften. Add half your garlic when onions are almost done. (If you add the garlic with onion right away it tends to get bitter.)
• Pour tomato sauce & paste in. Add salt & crushed red pepper to taste -- as well as a sprinkling of sugar. Simmer for a bit.
• Add chicken sausage, cut into chunks.

• Add the rest of the garlic and lots of freshly chopped basil, turn the heat down low, partially cover and let it "simmer" for about an hour. (More like stew together.) Mix every so often.

• Just before serving stir in a few tablespoons of Mascarpone cheese (don't be shy) until melted.

Would have been even better with some freshly grated Romano cheese on top, but, alas... I had none. Nonetheless, it was delicious and super easy. 

⚡

Chicken Parmesan

If you don't like chicken parm then you are un-(italian)american.

This is the best chicken parm I've ever made...

3 chicken breasts, butterflied in half.

flour, salt and pepper

2 -4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup red or white wine

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

pinch sugar

grated sharp provolone cheese

Pound out butterflied chicken breasts until they are very thin. Coat each side with salt and pepper and then dredge them in flour, shaking off the excess. Meanwhile in a deep skillet (with a cover which you will need later) heat up the olive oil and butter to med high heat. Once the skillet is hot, place the chicken in and cook each side until nice and golden. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside. If needed add a little more olive oil to the pan and then add onions, cooking until translucent. About a minute before they are done cooking, add the garlic. Cook garlic until fragrant. Then add wine to deglaze the pan. Stir until wine is reduced slightly. Add tomatoes. Stir everything around and reduce the heat to low, letting the sauce simmer for about 20 minutes. Add a pinch or two of sugar to reduce the acidity of the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once the sauce is ready, lay the cooked chicken in the pan on the sauce and add the grated provolone over it (more is better). You can melt the provolone in two ways; one is to place a cover on the pan and let the sauce simmer on low heat until the cheese is melted, or you can stick the skillet under the broiler until the cheese melts. Your call.

Once the cheese has melted sprinkled some chopped or dried parsley and serve. Great as a sandwich or over spaghetti :)