Italian Sausage Pasta Sauce with Garlic, Peppers, Mushrooms, and Eggplant

This post is an addendum to the post on how to make gnocchi, but this sauce goes well with anything.  My friend, Kiara, was spooning straight into her mouth.

Pasta sauce is all about the seasonings.  I pretty much scoff at anything straight out of the jar because in most cases, the sauce is bland and boring.  Any jar of pasta sauce can be transformed with the addition of fresh vegetables and the right blend of seasonings.

While Kiara and I were making gnocchi, Noel was busy making the accompanying sauce.  When making pasta sauce, you can use what you have.  If you don't have all the ingredients, substitute and subtract at will.  Also, the proportions don't need to be exact.  They're more like guidelines.  For baking, this is not true.  For making pasta sauce, you can pinch a bit more in or cut back here and there.

The Recipe
1 package of 6 Italian sausages (foreign food store in Gyeongnidan)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
10 button mushrooms, sliced
1 small eggplant, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 jar of pasta sauce
1/2 cup of red wine (we just splashed some in out of our glass as we were walking by)
a few splashes of white wine vinegar (to give depth and some acidity)
1 tablespoon Italian herbs
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley
*we also had some fresh herbs so if you have it, a few tablespoons of fresh parsley and fresh basil, minced

Take the sausages out of their casings and saute them over medium heat until no longer pink.

Add in the garlic and saute until the garlic is cooked (a few minutes).  The dump in all your vegetables and saute them for 15 minutes or so until they've cooked down in volume about 30%.

Then add in the can of diced tomatoes, jar of pasta sauce, red wine and vinegar.  Add in the dry seasonings and simmer over low heat until the vegetables are soft.  This should take 30 minutes to an hour.

Once you have a sauce, just pour it over some pasta or toss in some gnocchi.

Serve with some freshly grated parmesan cheese or ricotta salata.