Sausage and cheese rigatoni is a delicious baked pasta with deep Italian flavors from marinara, roasted red peppers and plenty of cheese.
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: basil, fennel seeds, garlic, Italian parsley, marinara, oregano, paprika, parmesan cheese, provolone, ricotta cheese, rigatoni pasta, roasted red peppers, sweet Italian sausage, yellow onion
Ingredients
1poundsweet Italian sausageground or removed from casings
1tablespoonfennel seeds
1small yellow oniondiced
6 to 8clovesgarlicminced
12ouncesroasted red bell peppersdrained and diced
25ouncesmarinara sauce
1teaspoonoregano
1teaspoonbasil
1teaspoonpaprika
16ouncesrigatoni pasta
15ouncesricotta cheese
8ouncesgrated parmesan cheese
1/4cupfresh Italian parsleychopped
6 to 8slicesprovolone cheese
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and prepare a three-quart baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray, and set it aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, fennel and onion and saute until the sausage is cooked through and the onions are soft. Add in the garlic and saute for another two minutes or so.
Dump in the diced red peppers, marinara sauce, oregano, basil and paprika to the pan and stir to combine.
While the sauce is warming through, bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the rigatoni for just five minutes. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce, stirring to coat it.
In another bowl, combine the ricotta, parmesan and parsley. (At first, you'll wonder how it's going to come together with all that parmesan, but just keep stirring. It will.)
Pour half of the pasta/sauce mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top it with half of the ricotta, and then place a single layer of three to four slices of provolone on top.
Finish it off with the rest of the sauce, the rest of the ricotta, and another layer of provolone.
Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until the top is brown and bubbly. Let the bake sit for five minutes before serving with some garlic bread.