Suprise Dinner for The Wife (the recipe)

Sausage and pasta cooking.

Chopped onion and bell pepper.

Pasta bake ready for the oven.

The finished pasta bake.

So, I went to Harvey's to get some supplies for Amber to make personal apple pies for Thanksgiving. While I was there I got to thinking about cooking something nice for her, something we haven't had in a long time. Years ago, during Amber's first year in Savannah, I invited Amber and her friend over for dinner. A week or so before I invited her over I had made this, what I thought, delicious pasta bake. In the first recipe, five years ago, I used small shells, baby portobello, cilantro, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, ground beef, and Prego pasta sauce. I learned over the years with Amber that she does not care for mushrooms or cilantro, so for this nights recipe I 86ed those. Instead of ground beef I used ground Italian sausage. Instead of small shells I used rottini. Instead of Prego sauce I made the same sauce we used on the pizzas in the previous blog. I added half a red onion, and a whole bell pepper.

You will need:

1lb box of pasta (your choice), 6 medium tomatoes, a handful of fresh oregano, a handful of fresh basil, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1lb of ground Italian sausage, 1 bell pepper, 1 bag of mozzarella cheese, and 1 15oz container of ricotta cheese.

For the sauce:

-Mince your 4 cloves of garlic very fine (I used a food processor) and simmer in a small sauce pot with a tablespoon of olive oil.

-Finely chop a handful of basil and oregano (I used a food processor).

-Quarter and seed 6 tomatoes then add to the food processor and blend finely.

-Add blended herbs and tomatoes to the sauce pot.

-Bring to a boil, and stir occasionally until sauce is a deep red.

For the rest:

-While making the sauce get the pasta and sausage cooking.

-While that is cooking chop half the red onion and bell pepper.

-Preheat the oven to 350.

-Once sauce, pasta and sausage are cooked, combine pasta, sausage, sauce, onion, pepper, 3/4 the bag of mozzarella, and the ricotta in a large bowl and mix well.

-Once your ingredients are mixed place them in a large baking pan, sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella on top and place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes.