Pasta Bake

This recipe is adapted from my mom’s penne pasta bake. I’ve been working on a tomato sauce recipe so I just used a homemade tomato sauce recipe in place of the sauce she uses. I adapted my sauce recipe from alexandracooks.com. My mom’s penne pasta bake recipe is a lot quicker and easier to make – you do everything the same, except instead of making the sauce, you just stir in 1-15 ounce can Italian tomato sauce, 1-15 ounce can diced tomatoes and 1-6 ounce can tomato paste with garlic and 1/2 cup water into the browned sausage and let cook for 10 minutes. Then add the pasta and proceed with the directions. You can use plain canned tomatoes and just add your own garlic (about 2-3 cloves would work well and add dried basil/oregano/rosemary or a premixed Italian seasoning). It is really tasty too. It has become a tradition for my mom to serve it the night we arrive at her house every year for Christmas. My daughter loves this tradition and makes sure to remind Nana of it every year.

I love making variations of recipes based on what I have on hand. It saves money and time and forces me to get a little more creative. I tried to use some of my most basic pantry staples in my sauce and in this pasta bake. The beauty of this recipe is that you can use fresh or dried, frozen/fresh or canned and it all works great. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients for Pasta Sauce

• 1/4 cup butter or extra virgin olive oil (I like butter better because its a little more sweet, but olive oil works well too)
• 1 small onion, diced (about 1 cup diced onion)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic or 3 cloves garlic
• 3-15 ounce cans diced, stewed or crushed tomatoes (or about 2.5-3 pounds fresh tomatoes)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon course sea salt (my sea salt is very course so if you are using a finer salt, add a little at a time to taste)
• 1 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh basil (add more to taste) or 2 tablespoons dried basil
• optional: 1/2-1 cup whole milk or heavy cream

Additional Pasta Bake Ingredients

• 1 pound ground sausage
• 1 pound penne pasta (whole wheat works well here, but durum wheat works too)
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• Optional: shredded parmesan cheese as a topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter or heat oil in a large pan on medium-low heat.

Add onion and garlic and sauté until softened.

Add tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil and bring to a boil.

Let simmer with the lid on for approximately 20 minutes.

Add optional milk or cream and stir to combine, but don’t let boil.

Add sausage and mix to combine.

Add penne pasta to the meat and tomato mixture.

Pour into 9X13 baking dish.

Cover with 2 cups mozzarella cheese.

Bake covered for 30 minutes.

Serve warm with optional parmesan cheese and caesar salad.