Baked Pasta with Sausage and Peppers
A delicious homemade version of sausage and pepper penne with lots of meat and veggies in a cheesy sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ medium onion, chopped
- 2 hot or mild Italian sausages
- 2 large garlic cloves, minced
- 8 mushrooms, sliced or chopped
- 1 cup red, yellow or orange pepper about 1 regular pepper
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried basil
- 1 handful fresh basil optional
- 1 large tomato
- 2 cups pasta sauce something fairly plain like marinara or sweet basil
- 2 cups dry small pasta like fusilli or penne
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- salt and pepper to taste only if necessary
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in large wide skillet. Finely chop onion and saute to soften.
- Squeeze sausage from casings into pan and cook for about 5 minutes, breaking up lumps into smaller bites.
- Finely mince garlic, slice mushrooms and chop pepper. Add to pan and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Chop and seed tomato and add to pan. Add basil and oregano. Simmer for about 5 minutes until tomato is softening.
- Meanwhile, bring large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta for 1 minute less than directions on package. Drain, reserving some pasta water. Add pasta to pan along with pasta sauce and stir well. Add a few ladles of pasta cooking water to the mixture along with fresh basil if using.
- Shred cheeses and add about 1/3 of each cheese to the pasta mixture and combine. Pour into large shallow baking dish. Top with remaining cheeses.
- Bake at 350 degrees in the centre of the oven for about 30 minutes until the top is browning slightly and bubbling.
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