Sausage, Mushroom, and Onion Tomato Sauce
1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
1 medium onion - peeled, cut in half and sliced thin
8 ounces mushrooms -crimini or baby bella, cleaned and cut in half
see my notes on how to clean mushrooms
2-3 links of italian sausage (pork, chicken, turkey --you pick!)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
6 or more basil leaves, torn in half
Heat oil in a large saute' pan over medium heat. Squeeze the sausage out of the casing so that small bite-size pieces fall right into the hot oil. Cook all the sausage pieces, stirring with a large metal spoon to insure all the pieces have cooked through, about 5 minutes. Remove sausage using slotted spoon to a bowl. Add onion to pan and saute for about a minute, turn the heat up a little and add the mushrooms --saute for another couple minutes until mushrooms start to soften. Add the sausage back to the pan. Pour entire can of crushed tomatoes into pan. Add brown sugar and stir everything together. Allow to cook for another 5 to 10 minutes. Taste to see if you need any salt or pepper. Add the basil leaves and serve hot.
I accidentally started to saute the onions first --it is fine but better to saute the sausage first (see recipe directions) :)
