Cheesy Baked Pasta with Sausage and Ricotta
"This was a modification of a recipe from NY times Cooking that I whipped up for some starving teenagers after an afternoon of sports practices. I used a jarred sauce to cut down on the steps of making one from scratch. If you have a sauce you love, then by all means plug it into this recipe! Enjoy :)"
Ingredients
Nutritional
- Serving Size: 1 (248.9 g)
- Calories 764.1
- Total Fat - 45.6 g
- Saturated Fat - 16.5 g
- Cholesterol - 57.4 mg
- Sodium - 911.5 mg
- Total Carbohydrate - 65.7 g
- Dietary Fiber - 7.3 g
- Sugars - 8.5 g
- Protein - 23.6 g
- Calcium - 538.8 mg
- Iron - 2.9 mg
- Vitamin C - 3.2 mg
- Thiamin - 0.3 mg
Step by Step Method
Step 1
Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Step 2
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high.
Step 3
Added sausage into skillet and cook until starting to brown, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes.
Step 4
Stir in garlic, oregano, and red-pepper flakes (if using), and cook another 1 to 2 minutes.
Step 5
Stir in marinara sauce, bay leaves and 2 teaspoons salt, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes to thicken slightly.
Step 6
Stir in pasta and 1 cup water and return to a simmer.
Step 7
Continue to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Step 8
Remove from heat, pluck out the bay leaves, and fold in about a third of the mozzarella.
Step 9
Pour the pasta and sauce mixture into a 9x13 baking dish or stoneware.
Step 10
Stir in the dollops of ricotta and top pasta with remaining mozzarella.
Step 11
Sprinkle with Parmesan, then transfer to oven.
Step 12
Bake until pasta is tender when poked with a fork, and cheese is bubbly and lightly golden, 20-26 minutes.
Step 13
(If you’d like a more deeply browned topping, run the pan under the broiler for 1 or 2 minutes.)
Step 14
Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving.
Step 15
Top with basil, plenty of black pepper, and more red-pepper flakes, if you like.
Tips
No special items needed.