This is one of my go to comfort, hangover dishes. We’re talking cheesy carbs with a real punch of herby, tomatoey flavour. This dish was inspired by one of my fave Chrissy Tiegen recipes – her pasta alla norma. I really liked what she called ‘mozzarella bombs’ – her dish and this one have chunks of mozzarella studded throughout the pasta that get all melty and stretchy as the pasta bakes. When your fork hits a mozzarella clump its like the best treasure discovery you’ve ever experienced. I mean just look at the cheese pull in that pic. The portion sizes on this dish are quite large, because I’m basing it on what I’d eat on a very hungover Sunday (which turns out to be enough pasta for a 2 person standard serving). So be warned when you’re making this – I would say it serves 2 high appetite people, or 3-4 regular appetite.
Cheesy, Tomatoey, Sausage Pasta Bake
Serves 2-3 (2 very hungry) | 1 hour + 40 mins baking
Ingredients
1tbsp olive oil
1tsp butter
1 white onion, sliced crossways into thin half moons
1/2 my Italian Sausage Meat without the garlic
2-3 large cloves garlic minced
2tbsp tomato puree
1 400g tin whole plum tomatoes
Hanful parsley minced
Hanfdul basil minced
A few sprigs of rosemary minced
300g short pasta of choice, rigatoni or dusili
125g ricotta
150g ball of mozzarella cut into 1.5cm cubes
A grating of parm to taste
Method
- Heat the oil and buttere in a large saucepan or casserole over low heat. Once melted, add the onions with a pinch of salt and cook with the lid on, stirring often, until it partially caramelises (~15-20 mins).
- Once the onions are ready, push to one side of thee pan and splash a little oil in the other. Turn the heat to medium/high. Add the sausage meat – don’t stir for the first minute or 2. You want to form a nice caramelised crust. At this point start to break up the sausage into large chunks. Cook until caramelised all over and a nice fond has formed. Stir through with the onions.
- Add the garlic and good for a minute or two until fragrant.
- Add the tomato puree, stir and cook for another few minutes until slightly darkened in colour.
- Add the tomatoes and about half a tin of water, crush the tomatoes into smaller chunks with a spatula. Add the herbs. Bring to the boil and then immediately turn the heat to low.
- Simmer for 20-25 mins. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in heavily salted boiling water until al dente.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan
- Once the sauce is cooked, stir through the ricotta and add salt, pepper and parm and taste for seasoning. Add the pasta and 3/4 of the mozzarella chunks – stir to combine and transfer to your baking dish.
- Bake in the oven for 30-40 mins until bubbling and the mozzarella is nice and melty. Leave on the side for 5 mins and serve!
Bakes By Meg 