Pasta with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and Italian sausage

I made up this dish last night, and it's pretty darn good.

Ingredients/prep

1 lb. package good quality penne or other pasta
12-ounce tub fresh mozzarella (drain cheese and cut into ¾" chunks)
3 mild Italian sausages (preferably homemade), skin removed , coarsely chopped
Half a bunch of green onions (scallions), chopped
12 basil leaves (chiffonaded, i.e., cut into thin ribbons)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed but whole
4 med. tomatoes (seeds, gooey stuff, and ribs removed), cut into ½" pieces
¼ cup dry white wine
Fresh ground black pepper
Red pepper flakes
Sea salt

Directions

1. Get large pot of salted water boiling.

2. Meanwhile, heat skillet to medium high heat with a bit of olive oil, and brown chopped sausage meat. Remove and reserve sausage, add wine to skillet, turn up heat and scrape up remaining browned bits while wine boils a minute or two. Pour reduced wine and browned bits on to reserved sausage.

3. Water should now be boiling, so add pasta to pot of water.

4. Wipe skillet used for the sausage clean, add a bit more olive oil, turn heat to medium and when hot, soften the green onions and garlic. When the green onions are softened, add chopped fresh tomato, salt, black pepper, and red pepper. Sauté for no more than one minute. Remove garlic and remove pan from heat.

5. When pasta is al dente, drain it and toss it with tomatoes & green onions, the sausage & wine mixture, the basil, and the diced mozzarella until the mozzarella begins to get just a little bit gooey.

Serves 4 or 5.

© Tom Casagrande 2008