Smoked sausage is already cooked, so browning it is entirely about colour. Deeply coloured coins are what give the sauce its reddish-brown tone as much as the tomato and Cajun seasoning do.
The tomatoes go in drained. A 14.5-ounce can with its juice would thin a sauce that only gets five minutes of simmering and half a cup of cream to bring it together.
Why This Recipe Works
- Browning the coins deeply and removing them leaves fond that the onion and spice cook into.
- Thirty seconds of Cajun seasoning in the hot pan blooms it before the liquid arrives.
- Draining the tomatoes keeps the sauce concentrated over a short simmer.
- Parmesan stirred into the cream thickens the sauce without a cheese layer on top.
Ingredient Notes
- Smoked sausage
- Fourteen ounces, sliced into coins. Already cooked, so browning is for colour. Raw sausage would need 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Diced tomatoes, drained
- One 14.5-ounce can, drained. The juice would thin a five-minute sauce.
- Gemelli
- Twelve ounces. The twist holds a stirred sauce, which is what this dish is.
How to Make It
Cook the gemelli
Cook gemelli until al dente and drain.
Brown the coins deeply
Brown sausage coins in oil until deeply colored; transfer.
Aromatics, spice, liquid
Cook onion 4 minutes, add garlic and Cajun seasoning for 30 seconds, then add tomatoes and broth.
Simmer and enrich
Simmer 5 minutes, stir in cream and Parmesan, and return sausage.
Toss, and leave it stirred
Toss with gemelli and parsley. Keep it a stirred reddish-brown Cajun sauce with no melted cheese cap.
Four Moves, One Pan
The sausage is already cooked when it arrives, so every stage here is about building colour and concentration rather than doneness.
ColourDeeply coloured, not merely warmed.
14 oz of smoked sausage sliced into coins and browned in olive oil until DEEPLY coloured, then removed. It needs no cooking - this is purely the fond and the colour the sauce will be built on.
Bloom30 seconds - the spice darkens and turns fragrant.
A diced small onion for 4 minutes, then 2 garlic cloves and 1 1/2 tsp of Cajun seasoning for 30 seconds. The spice meets hot fat before it meets liquid.
Concentrate5 minutes at a simmer.
A 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, DRAINED, plus 1 cup of broth, simmered 5 minutes. Draining matters because five minutes is not long enough to cook off a can of juice.
Enrich, and stopA stirred reddish-brown sauce, no melted cap.
1/2 cup of cream and 1/3 cup of Parmesan stirred in, sausage returned, then tossed with the gemelli. The Parmesan goes INTO the sauce - no cheese is added on top afterwards.
Success Tips
- Take the coins further than you think — deeply coloured is the instruction, and it is where the sauce gets its depth.
- Drain the tomatoes properly rather than tipping the can in.
- Do not add cheese on top at the end.
Serving Ideas
Six servings on plates, the gemelli in reddish-brown sauce with the browned coins and diced tomato visible, finished with parsley and no cheese cap.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I melt cheese over the top?
No. The Parmesan goes into the sauce; there is no melted cheese cap on this dish.
Can I use raw sausage?
The recipe uses fully cooked smoked sausage. Raw sausage would need to reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
Why drain the tomatoes?
The sauce only simmers five minutes, so the extra liquid would leave it thin.
