Spicy Italian Sausage Pasta Bake

[SheilaT]

Another one I think I do well.

1 pound bulk Italian sausage. Sweet, spicy, any combination therof. I most recently made it half sweet and half spicy.
1 onion sliced
1 green pepper sliced
1 pound rigatoni noodles
2 jars of a nice vodka sauce. Buy a good one.

Fix the rigatoni per package directions. When cooked, rinse well, then sprinkle with kosher salt and a few twists of the pepper grinder.

Meanwhile, cook the sausage and drain.

Cook the onion and green pepper in some olive oil until they look right.

Combine all the cooked ingredients in a large enough casserole. A lasagna pan is a good size.

Now dump the vodka sauce and mix well. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. If you want you can top with some Parmesan cheese

This also freezes well.

I'm doubling this recipe and making it tomorrow for my stint feeding the homeless at our local homeless shelter.

[rdharma]

1. That sounds good.

Last edited Sun Mar 16, 2014, 12:43 AM - Edit history (1)

I have some Italian sausage in the freezer and plan to do something with it next week. This looks like something I'd like to try. Thanks for posting.

[SheilaT]

2. Let me know how you like it.

This could be open to a lot of variation. I personally feel the vodka sauce is what makes it, but there's a lot of wiggle room in a recipe like this.

[Frosty1]

3. What is vodka sauce?

I've never heard of it or seen it in the grocery store.

[SheilaT]

4. It will be grouped with the spaghetti sauces and their ilk.

It's more orange in color and doesn't have the acidity of any regular spagetti sauce. The brand I'm fond of is Classico, which in the fine print on the back of the jar claims that this is a sauce from Milan. It's distributed by International Gourmet Specialties out of Pittsburgh and there's a website: www.classico.com