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20-Minute Spicy Sausage & Mushroom Pasta

The perfect quick and satisfying meal!

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Why it works: Pasta and mushroom work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 569 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep5 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the kosher salt and the linguine, and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Reserve a splash of the cooking water, then drain.

  2. While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage meat and break it up as it browns, cooking about 5 minutes until no pink remains and it reaches 160°F (71°C).

  3. Add the diced shallots to the skillet and cook 2 minutes, stirring, until softened. Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes, crushed fennel and dried oregano and cook 1 minute.

  4. Add the chopped mushrooms and cook about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they release their liquid and begin to brown.

  5. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add the sugar and thyme sprigs, and simmer over medium-low heat about 3 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs and season to taste.

  6. Add the drained pasta to the sauce with a splash of the reserved cooking water and toss until coated and glossy.

  7. Divide among bowls and top with the grated Parmesan. Add more Parmesan to taste and serve right away.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pasta + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together569 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Fennel + oreganotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together112 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Garlic + oreganotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Pepper + oreganotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pasta, olive, garlic, pepper, fennel, oregano, mushroom):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  3. Spinachbetter flavor fit
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pasta, olive, garlic, pepper, fennel, oregano, mushroom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).