Baked Ziti with Sausage

Today is Sunday.

Blah blah cold, gray Sunday. My highlight of the day was going to our favorite bakery after church because the kids were only mildly horrendous. And then they were out of my favorite donuts! Argh! So, dinner had to become the highlight. I decided to make my husband’s favorite pasta dish. Not that he deserves it for any adorable deed he performed for me, but because I have some heavy whipping cream leftover that probably hasn’t expired yet. Whipping cream = tomato CREAM sauce = happiness. And of course, his favorite pasta dish isn’t even my recipe at all. My neighbor brought this over when we had just moved into our house and had no appliances. Why someone with a 5 year-old, two 3 year-olds, a 2 year-old, and a 1 year-old is making anything for anyone else is beyond me, but if I could cook this well, I would be dragging baked zitis all over town.

I better see an adorable deed happen for this. 

Reprinted with permission from Jenn Segal's Onceuponachef.com.  

 

Baked Ziti with Sausage

Serves 8-10

Prep Time: 10 Minutes

Cook Time: 50 Minutes

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. ziti noodles I used penne rigate. Love those ridges.

1.5 lbs. ground spicy or sweet Italian Sausage (or removed from casings) I used 1 lb. of sweet and 1 lb. of spicy. I buy it in 1 lb. packs so I had to either be short or be over. I chose over of course.

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. sugar

¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 cup heavy cream Turned out my cream wasn't expired! But, I was short by ¼ cup. So, I supplemented with 2T. half & half and 2T. 2% milk. It didn’t cause a problem.

½ cup grated Pecorino Romano (or Parmigiano Reggiano) cheese I have Pecorino Romano. We freshly grate it when we want it, but to get this much I needed to pull a Tom Sawyer move. See below.

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil, plus more for serving I used about 1T. dried basil and did not add more when serving.

8 oz. whole milk mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups) I omitted! See below.

2 cups frozen peas

INSTRUCTIONS

    1) Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the ziti according to the package directions for very al dente, about 7 minutes.  I cooked 2 minutes less than the package said. (It will continue to cook in the oven so you want to undercook it just a bit.) Drain and add the pasta back to the pot. Set aside.

    2) Preheat the oven to 425°F and set the oven rack to the middle position.

    3) Heat a large sauté pan (preferably nonstick)  over medium high heat. I used a Martha Stewart cast iron Dutch Oven. Crumble the sausage into the pan and cook, breaking apart with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned and just cooked through, 5 to 6 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked sausage to a plate.

    4) Drain all but 1 T. of the fat from the pan and set over low heat (if you don’t have enough fat in the pan, add 1 T. of olive oil).

    5) Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until soft but not browned, about 1 minute.

    6) Add the crushed tomatoes, salt, sugar, and red pepper flakes and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes. Note: red pepper flakes are spicy, garlic is spicy, spicy sausage is…spicy! So this does come out with a delicious kick to it. I think you should make it as written because it is so yummy, but if you’re worried about spice, I would cut out the flakes, cut down the garlic by half OR use sweet Italian sausage. My kids complained at first, but we let them scoop up the sauce with some bread and they were fine.

    7) Add the heavy cream, 1/3 cup of the Pecorino Romano, cooked sausage, and basil to the pan; stir until evenly combined. Carefully pour the contents of the sauté pan into the large pot with the pasta and gently stir to combine. With the pots and pans I used, it made more sense to pour the pasta into my sauce, which was in an oven-safe pot.

    8) Spoon half of the mixture into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle with half the shredded mozzarella and half of the remaining Pecorino Romano. Spoon the remaining pasta mixture on top and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and Pecorino Romano. At the last minute, I decided not to turn this into a baked pasta. I did not add any mozzarella cheese to it. I am just not a huge melty, bloaty cheese dish person. I made about 2 cups of frozen peas and threw them in for an added vegetable and served it as is.

    9) Transfer to the oven and bake, uncovered, 15 to 20 minutes. Sprinkle with more basil and serve. Since the oven was preheated and I wasn’t baking my pasta, I threw in some garlic ciabatta bread topped with olive oil, pepper and Pecorino-Romano cheese.

Make Ahead: This dish can be assembled and refrigerated, covered, up to 2 days in advance. Since the dish will be cold, the baking time will need to be increased. To bake, cover tightly with aluminum foil and place in a 425°F oven for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the cheese is lightly browned and the pasta is hot throughout.

Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The dish can be frozen unbaked. When you’re ready to cook it, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then proceed with the Make Ahead instructions above. I have had success with this.

I can usually con someone into doing my dirty work.
Added bonus is her beefing up her wimpy, lefty fine motor skills.