Make Ahead Italian Sausage and Pasta Bake

Submitted by CHILI SPICE

"This wonderful hearty, make ahead casserole really hits the spot. full of flavor, easy to make (and freeze) for those hectic or lazy days ahead."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 8-10

ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 lbs Italian sausage (mild or hot)
• olive oil (optional)
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped
• 28 ounces meatless extra chunky pasta sauce
• 213 ml can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 5 cups penne pasta
• 1 (284 g) package fresh spinach (trimmed and coarsely chopped)
• 3 cups shredded provolone cheese or 3 cups mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated asiago cheese or 1 cup parmesan cheese

directions

1. Cut sausage into 1/2 inch chunks. I large skillet, brown sausage over medium-high heat, in batches and adding oil if necessary. Transfer sausage to a bowl.
2. Pour off any fat from pan. Add onions, garlic and red pepper, cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in pasta sauce, tomato sauce, basil, oregano and fennel seeds; bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Return sausage and any accumulated juices to pan; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until sausage is firm throughout.
3. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta for 6 minutes, add spinach;cook for 1 minute. Drain well and return to pot. Add sausage mixture and provolone/mozzarella cheese; stir to combine well.
4. Transfer to 2 greased 8-inch square baking dishes or 1 13x9-inch dish. Sprinkle with Asiago/parmesan cheese. Cover dish with greased foil, greased side down.
5. To serve: Bake, covered with foil, in in 375 degree F. oven for 30 minutes or for 1 hour if from the refrigerator. This freezes beautifully (thaw in refrigerator before baking).

Reviews

[tonya.sutter1966]

Tastes great! :). Why haven't I been adding fennel to pasta dishes my whole life!?!!

 

[brittany_0706]

OH MY GOSH! Not only was this dish beautiful, it was sooo delicious! As soon as I was putting it all together I knew this dish was going to be great and it was!

 

[invictus]

This is very tasty! I misread the instructions and cooked an entire bag (16 oz.) of pasta so I had a lot! What I ended up doing was making a 13x9 pan for dinner and 8x8 pan for the freezer which was actually rather nice. There is plenty of the larger pan leftover for lunches this week.

 

[Food4Thought]

Delicious recipe! Easy to make and VERY flavourful. Great dish to make-ahead giving you free time to focus on appetizers and drinks! I added 4 tbs of Ricotta and omitted the tomato paste in order to make it creamier with less acidity. Easily serves 4 hungry men, or 6 with salad and garlic bread. This recipe is a KEEPER!

 

[chef313633]

my family loved this I used 1 8 oz 4cheese pizza and 1 8 oz moozarella.Was very tasty.