Ersatz Italian Sausage Primavera

Was given this recipe:

"Ersatz Italian Sausage Primavera"


I love Italian sausage simmered in a yummy tomato sauce, loaded with veggies & served over pasta or polenta or mashed potatoes or any other starchy side dish. I've never actually found real Italian sausage in France, so any French sausage will do nicely (Toulouse, garlic, chipolata, even merguez). This is SUPER EASY - I like the polenta with it (1 minute polenta is readily available). It's a great way to throw in those healthy veggies, esp. for kids!
Ingredients :

Any sausage
olive oil
bottled pasta sauce
garlic powder
dried basil and/or oregano
bit of sugar
BALSAMIC VINEGAR (a must!)
frozen or fresh, cut-up veggies of your choice (leftovers are fine)
mushrooms (fresh or frozen), optional
red chili pepper flakes, optional (for those who like it fired up)

Drizzle olive oil into a somewhat deep frying pan w/lid (I like using the non-stick type). Heat & put in ALL ingredients together. Add a bit of water, as well - this should be nice & saucy. Seasoning is to taste - the addition of the sugar & balsamic vinegar will give it a rich, slightly sweet & tangy taste. I like to add the extra garlic & herbs, too, to jazz up the bottled sauce. You could use red wine, instead of the vinegar, but save that for drinking!!

Simmer for @ 45 min. minimum, even longer on a very low flame. Stir occasionally. That's it! Serve with pasta, naturally, or polenta, or any other starch. You could also add chunks of potato to the cooking sauce  then you'll have a true one-pot meal!

Made it with those yummy little herby sausages they do in Lidl but I bet it'd be brilliant with proper British sausages like you can't get here *sigh*. Chucked in some lardons (that's small bits of bacon to us Brits) I found in the freezer too. Having no idea what Polenta is (check it out on Wiki here if you're as ignorant as me) I did it with what my youngest calls "spiral pastas" and the kids hoovered it up, broccoli, carrots and all! Very easy, very tasty. Nuff said.

Oh, never heard of "Primavera" either but I have an excuse for that, apparently it's an American thing. More info here.