Sausage and pepper baked ziti

By shortsport12

Ingredients

• 1 lb sweet and/ or hot Italian sausage links, casings removed
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed with press
• 2 lg red, green, and/or yellow peppers, cut into 1/4 in. slices
• 1 jumbo onion (1 lb) cut in half, then cut crosswise into 1/4 in slices
• 1 lb. sliced white mushrooms
• 28 oz (1 can) whole tomatoes in puree
• 15 oz (1 can) tomato puree
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 lb ziti or penne pasta
• 8 oz (1 pkg) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 c. freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

Prep 20 minutes
Cook 1 hour 5 minutes

1. In deep 12 in nonstick skillet, cook sausage on medium 10 minutes or until browned, stirring and breaking it up with side of spoon. With slotted spoon, transfer sausage to medium bowl.
2. In drippings in skillet, cook garlic, peppers, onion, and mushrooms, covered 10 minutes. Uncover and cook 8 minutes longer or until vegetables are tender and most of liquid has evaporated. Stir in tomatoes, tomato puree, and salt; heat to boiling on medium heat, stirring and up tomatoes with side of spoon. Reduce heat to medium-low; cover and cook sauce 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions, but cook 2 minutes less than recommended cooking time.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water. Drain pasta. Return pasta and reserved cooking water to pot; stir in tomato sauce to coat pasta. Add mozzarella; toss to combine. Divide mixture evenly between 2 shallow ungreased 2 ½ quart ceramic baking dishes. Sprinkle with Romano
Bake the casseroles 20 to 25 minutes or until tops brown and sauce is bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes

Each Serving: about 575 calories, 28 g protein, 63 g carbohydrates, 24 g total fat (10 g saturated), 6 g fiber, 62 mg cholesterol, 1410 mg sodium