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Italian sausage and seafood sauce

This sauce was inspired by one of my favourite soups: Spicy Clam and Sausage. I had some hot Italian sausage, salad shrimp and pasta leftover from various meals so I decided to use the soup ingredients for a pasta sauce. Nick made the recipe and it’s delicious! Updated Jan 2022.

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Italian Sausage and Shrimp Sauce

This sauce was inspired by my Sausage and Clam soup recipe. You can change up the type of sausage and seafood to your liking. Cajun with andouille and crawfish would be great!
Course Sauce
Cuisine Italian
Keyword italian sausage sauce, red sauce, sausage and clam sauce
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author misangela

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbl EVOO
  • 2-3 links Hot Italian sausage, remove casing, crumble adjust amount to your taste; sub mild or another type of sausage about 6-8oz
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp
  • 2 Tbl shallots, finely minced one large or two small
  • 4 oz cremini mushrooms, diced about half a small package
  • 2/3 cup red pepper, small dice about 1/2 pepper, roasted pepper is GREAT here
  • 1 tsp dry basil dry is best here
  • 1 tsp anchovy paste optional, but adds umami
  • 1 Tbl tomato paste
  • 1 Tbl flour any type is fine
  • 1 Tbl butter
  • 1 cup diced or crushed tomatoes about half a 14 oz can
  • 1/4 cup mirin optional
  • 1/2 cup red or white wine if you skip, use chicken stock instead
  • 1 cup salad shrimp (tiny, usually frozen) or 1.5 cups small peeled shrimp
  • 1/2 lemon, zest and juice
  • 1 Tbl capers
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • S/P to taste
  • fresh basil, chiffonade optional
  • 4 portions cooked pasta to serve sauce on I prefer Barilla pasta

Instructions

  • Do your mise en place and veg prep first.
  • In a 2-4qt sauce pan over medium heat, add EVOO and sausage; sauté a couple of minutes.
  • Add garlic, shallots, creminis and red pepper. Cook until softened, about 4 minutes.
  • Add basil, anchovy paste, tomato paste, butter and flour. Raise heat just a little, stirring constantly. This is to make a roux and cook out the flour. Cook for 2-3 minutes.
  • Add lemon zest, tomatoes, mirin and wine. Bring to simmer.
  • Turn off heat and add capers and lemon juice. Check S/P levels.
  • Stir in cream to your preferred thickness. Check S/P again.
  • Serve over pasta with fresh basil.

Notes

Image Credit: allrecipes.com 
This sauce base can be used for any meat/seafood combo and flavour profile you like. Here are a couple of examples:
Cajun - use andouille and crawfish with Cajun seasoning (skip anchovy paste)
Spanish - use merguez and shrimp, add olives and use oregano rather than basil
The options are endless! 
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Spicy Clam and Sausage Soup

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Angela's Spicy Clam and Sausage Soup

This is an old recipe of mine that is a go-to for me. Sometimes I use andouille sausage for a really spicy dish! I've tweaked it over the years. I'm converting this in Nov 2019, the original recipe was posted in 2007, so I can promise you, this is a really great soup!
Course Soup
Cuisine Italian, Mexican, Spanish
Keyword andouille, chorizo, clam and sausage soup, italian clam and sausage soup, italian sausage, spicy clam and sausage soup
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 6
Author misangela

Equipment

  • 6-8 Qt stock pot

Ingredients

  • 3 stalks celery ½ in slices
  • 2 carrots thinly sliced
  • 1 med white onion ¼ inch dice
  • 1 leek thinly sliced white only [OPTIONAL but recommended]
  • 5 cloves garlic minced; use more if you like
  • 1 pint cremini mushrooms small container, sliced
  • 1 pound Italian Sausage Sweet or Spicy, removed from casings (OR andouille)
  • olive oil
  • 2 Tbl butter, salted
  • 2 Tbl tomato paste Use the kind in the tube
  • 2 Tbl flour for roux to thicken
  • 3 cups seafood stock (shrimp shells make great stock!) OR water with 2 bouillon cubes in a pinch
  • 1 14oz can baby clams with juice or two small cans
  • 1 14oz can san marzano tomatoes diced or crushed (or crush the whole ones)
  • ½ cup sherry sub white wine
  • ½ tsp dry thyme
  • ½ tsp dry oregano
  • 1 tsp dry basil
  • ½ tsp red pepper flakes
  • ½ cup fresh flat leaf parsley chopped
  • 1 lemon zest and juice
  • S/P to taste
  • Grated Parmesano Reggiano garnish

Instructions

  • Prep all the ingredients before you start cooking. Mise en place will greatly improve your cooking experience.
  • In a large stock pot or dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil and butter. When butter is melted, add in celery, carrots, onions, leeks and garlic. Sweat until soft and translucent. Add in all the dried herbs.
  • Turn up heat to medium high and add mushrooms. Stir to release the water from the mushrooms and keep other veg from overcooking. When mushrooms have wilted, add in the sausage, breaking into chunks as you go. Turn down heat if things start to brown too much. When sausage has rendered its fat, add in flour and stir for one minute. (This is making a roux.) Stir in tomato paste.
  • Add stock and stir thoroughly stir up all the fond (stuck bits) from the bottom of the pot. Add in tomatoes and sherry and bring up to simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes then add in the clams and juice. Bring back to simmer for another 5 minutes.
  • Turn off heat and add the chopped parsley. Add fresh lemon juice and zest. Check seasoning.
  • Serve with grated parmesan on top and a chunk of crusty bread.

Notes

There are many ingredients to this soup, but it is really worth it. I sometimes substitute andouille or chorizo for the Italian sausage. If you use one of these other sausages, substitute cilantro for all the basil and oregano,  use fresh cilantro instead of parsley and use queso fresco or grated manchego for garnish to drive home the flavour profile.
You can't go wrong serving crusty bread with this soup!