It’s a common ritual at our place to have friends over for dinner every Friday or Saturday each week.  Most weeks I like to try something new or show off a new recipe I’ve created so I can get feedback on what works and what doesn’t.  Sometimes, we just order pizza because I have worked late and don’t have time to get something pulled together before the guests arrive.   It’s kind of a cop-out and while pizza is great, I would rather serve them something made in my own kitchen so I have to be creative with what I can pull off in less than half an hour.

Sometimes I’m lucky enough to have a couple jars of homemade tomato sauce on hand and maybe a couple bags of homemade meatballs in the freezer that just need to be thrown into the oven.

Sometimes though, like last night, I discover that I’ve run out.

Luckily, I did have a jar of gourmet tomato sauce lurking in a cupboard and it was a five miute run to the grocery store to pick up some fresh spicey Italian sausages.  Get the uncooked kind, not the “pre-cooked freezer bag” variety.  Slice them all into small meatball style chunks and then cook them in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil until they are cooked through and maybe a  little crispy on the outside.  At the same time, heat the sauce in a pot, stirring frequently, and make sure you keep a lid on it.  When tomato sauce starts to ‘boil’, it will splatter everywhere and it’s a very painful burn at times so be careful.  Turn it down on low once it is heated all through the sauce.

When the sausages are done cooking, just make sure the sauce is spiced the way you like it and then add the meat, stirring it in so the flavours of the sausage help infuse with the sauce.

If you haven’t been cooking the pasta at the same time as this you can keep the sauce warm in a low heat slow cooker or just on a low heat on the stove with the lid on.  Just make sure to stir often so it doesn’t burn to the bottom.