Baked Rigatoni with Sausage
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 10:35AM 
“Hey Mom…feel like making lunch for the crew?”
“How many constitutes a crew?”
“Oh, the usual” Soph rattled off the names. I counted eight.
“Can you make that sausage stuff, you know the one you baked in the oven? PLEEEEZE”
A quick perusal for the ingredients in the fridge, freezer and pantry.
Pasta – of course - check
Parm cheese – ah yup - check
Tomatoes – check and check
Good Italian sausages - checkcheck
“Yup, no prob…give me an 1 ½…you have to clean up though!”
And here’s the recipe for that sausage stuff baked in the oven or…
Baked Rigatoni with Sausage
Serves 6-8
3 sweet sausages, casings removed
3 hot sausages, casings removed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups beef broth
1 cup white wine
1 large sprig rosemary
1 cup whipping cream
1-cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1 box, 16oz, rigatoni
1 28oz can chopped tomatoes
1 28oz can strained or crushed tomatoes
Olive oil
Preheat oven to 375°F
Cook pasta in boiling water for 5 minutes, you want it very firm in side since it will continue cooking in the oven.
Fry onion in a couple tablespoons of olive oil until soft in a large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage; continue cooking until no longer pink breaking up any large pieces. Add rosemary, broth and wine. Continue cooking on low until reduced, about thirty minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and cream. Cook another twenty minutes; remove from heat. Remove rosemary sprig from sauce. Add pasta to a large baking dish, pour sausage mixture over pasta and stir to combine, add cheese, and stir to distribute cheese. Top with crushed tomatoes and bake covered for thirty minutes until hot and bubbling.
It’s All Delicious Notes: Any combo of sausages will be fine, depending on how spicy you like your sauce. Also, try not to omit the rosemary, it really gives it a nice flavor! One last note: around here Fresh Market has the best Italian sausages (in my opinion)
Reader Comments (2)
Okay, I was definitely skeptical about the beef broth, rosemary and cream, but I'm a spontaneous cook and very flexible with my ingredients -- I like to let the flavors develop and develop they did. Now I didn't have sausage (which quite frankly has to be the only day in my entire life I didn't have sausage) so I used turkey sausage -- and penne because I don't like rigatoni (a personal aversion probably scared by some bad rig at Sbarro) and I admit to a heavy hand with the grana padano -- minor adjustments. This was pronounced great at my house ... saved half and froze it sans cheese for another day! Kiss the cook ...
It's a good one Pam! So glad you, John and the girls liked it!