Italian Pasta Supper

Submitted by ColCadsMom

"This recipe originally came from a magazine, but I have tweaked it to suit our families taste. The original recipe called for chunky pasta-style tomatoes, but it always seemed a little watery to me. I buy the jarred spaghetti sauce that is chunky and has vegetables in it. This can be made ahead to the first baking time and refrigerated up to 24 hours. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 before adding the shredded mozzerella and baking an additional 15 minutes. I have never tried to freeze this, but I think it would do well. I like to use fresh mushrooms when I have them. If the sausage is in links, remove the casings before browning. Note there is no salt or pepper in the recipe. The olives, sausage, and pasta sauce is salty enough for our family...but take this into consideration when you make this."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 15mins
• Ingredients: 10
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 8 ounces rotini pasta
• 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
• 1⁄2 cup sweet onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (6 ounce) can black olives, sliced and drained
• 1 (8 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 (26 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
• 8 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded

directions

1. Cook pasta in boiling salted water for 6 minutes; drain and set aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a dutch oven or large skillet, saute the Italian sausage over medium heat until browned. Remove from the skillet and reserve 1 T of the drippings.
3. Saute the onion and garlic in reserved drippings until soft. Stir in drained olives and mushrooms.
4. Return meat to the skillet. Turn heat to low. Stir in the jar of pasta sauce, the Italian seasoning, and the drained noodles. Add the ricotta cheese and stir until creamy.
5. Spoon into a greased 3 quart baking dish. Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with mozzerella, and bake for 15 minutes more or until cheese is melted.

Reviews

[Breezytoo]

Oh my, we loved this! Having some ricotta I wanted to use up this sounded like something we'd like, but with one change. Instead of using sausage, I used extra lean ground beef as a personal choice. Everything else I did as written and also used fresh mushrooms. It reminded us of eating pizza! :) Yum! Served with a green salad and some crusty french bread and dinner was de-lish! Thanks for sharing, this will be added to the rotation! :)