Sausagecheesetomatoes Baked With Penne Pasta Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Gather and prep your ingredients.
• 2. Chef's Tip: Prepping is an important step in any recipe, and helps you maintain control of your kitchen and your recipe. Dice the onions, remove the casing from the Italian sausage, blanch, peel and seed the tomatoes... prep, prep, prep.
• 3. In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.
• 4. When the oil begins to shimmer, add the sausage and cook, breaking it apart with a wooden spoon into small pieces.
• 5. Chef's Note: If you want to reduce some of the fat in this dish, you can substitute chicken sausage for the Italian sausage.
• 6. Cook until nice and brown, about 5 to 7 minutes.
• 7. Add the onions, and a pinch of salt, and continue to cook (mixing with the sausage) until the onions are softened, about 5 minutes.
• 8. Add the garlic to the pan, and sauté for an additional minute.
• 9. Add the tomatoes, and the basil leaves, incorporating them into the other ingredients.
• 10. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, until the mixture begins to thicken, about 30 minutes.
• 11. Chef's Note: A simmer occurs between 180f-205f (82c-96c). With simmering you'll see bubbles forming and gently rising to the surface, but the liquid is not yet at a full rolling boil. Proteins are cooked more gently at a simmer as opposed to a boil, which is important because boiled meats will quickly become tough and stringy. This is why sauces, soups and stews with meat in them are simmered rather than boiled.
• 12. During the simmering process stop now and then and season with some salt and pepper, to taste.
• 13. Chef's Tip: Adding the salt during the cooking process will make the dish taste seasoned. Adding it at the end will make it taste salty.
• 14. Take the sauté pan off heat, and set aside. When it cools slightly, remove the basil leaves, and discard.
• 15. Place a rack in the middle position, and preheat the oven to 475f (245c).
• 16. Chef's Note: The screaming hot temperature of the oven accomplishes two things: it helps to get the cheese nice and brown, and it crips the pasta in the top layer. This gives the dish the soft comforting mouth feel of the pasta in the interior, and the nice firm bite of the pasta on the exterior.
• 17. Add the remaining ingredients (cheeses, and cream) to a large mixing bowl, and stir to combine, and set aside.
• 18. Chef's Note: If your sauté pan is big enough, you can do the mixing right in the pan, and keep cleanup to a minimum.
• 19. Take a large pot of water, and bring to the boil, and then add a bit of salt.
• 20. Chef's Tip: If you add the salt to the cold water, it can lay on the bottom of the pot, and over time cause pits to form.
• 21. Add the pasta, and cook until molto al dente.
• 22. Chef's Note: Molto al dente is the term used for slightly undercooking pasta. This method is used when a pasta dish is going to be cooked twice. The actual term used for pasta dishes that are cooked twice is: al forno.
• 23. Chef's Tip: If you are using standard penne pasta, cooking molto al dente is about 4 minutes.
• 24. Remove the pasta from the water, drain completely in a colander.
• 25. Chef's Note: To remove the wheat from this dish, I used some Quinoa penne pasta. It's 100% organic, kosher, gluten free, corn free, and vegan. Plus, in my opinion, it tastes as good as traditional pasta in this dish. The brand name is: Andean Dream
• 26. Add the drained pasta to the sauce, and gently stir to incorporate into the other ingredients.
• 27. Lightly oil a 2-quart ovenproof baking dish, or use a bit of butter.
• 28. Add the pasta mix to the baking dish, and evenly spread out.
• 29. Top the dish with some mozzarella cheese, or other cheese, if you prefer.
• 30. Add to the preheated oven, and bake until the dish is bubbling and starting to brow, about 12 to 14 minutes.
• 31. Remove from oven, allow the dish to cool slightly, and serve with some nice crusty bread. Enjoy.
• 32. Keep the faith and keep cooking.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Heat oil in a 12-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high. Crumble sausage into skillet, using a spoon to break it into small pieces. Cook until starting to brown, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic, oregano, fennel seeds and red-pepper flakes (if using), and cook another 1 to 2 minutes.
• Stir in whole tomatoes and their juice, using a spoon to break them up. Add crushed tomatoes, bay leaves and 2 teaspoons salt, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes to thicken slightly.
• Stir in pasta and 1 cup water and return to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, pluck out the bay leaves, and fold in about a third of the mozzarella.
• Top pasta with remaining mozzarella and dollops of ricotta. Sprinkle with Parmesan, then transfer to oven. Bake until pasta is tender when poked with a fork, and cheese is bubbly and lightly golden, 18 to 22 minutes. (If you'd like a more deeply browned topping, run the pan under the broiler for 1 or 2 minutes.) Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. Top with basil, plenty of black pepper, and more red-pepper flakes, if you like.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
• Heat oil in a large, deep skillet. Place sausage and onion in the skillet and cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain excess fat. Pour in wine, and cook for 1 minute, stirring, to deglaze the pan. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toss with cooked pasta, and place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle top with mozzarella.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Steps:

• Bring large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook pasta according to package directions.
• In a large deep skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil. Add onion, garlic, Italian seasoning mix and red pepper flakes, if using. Sir frequently and cook until the onions are soft and fragrant, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add sausage and cook for 1 minute. Add can of crushed tomatoes, stirring all the ingredients together to combine. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste and let simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in heavy cream and mix well.
• Drain the pasta and add directly to the skillet with the sauce Toss the pasta to coat with the sauce. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter and garnish with basil leaves. Serve with the cheesy garlic bread.
• For the cheesy garlic bread:
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Sprinkle cheese and Italian seasoning over garlic bread half. Place on tinfoil lined baking sheet and cook in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bread is warmed through. Slice and serve.
• Use the leftover garlic bread from this recipe to make Garlic Bread Pizza.