Italian Sausage & Pepper Baked Penne

By CindyMac

Penne pasta baked with Italian sausage & peppers in tomato sauce with mozzarella and other Italian cheeses

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Italian sausage links, cut crosswise into 1-inch chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 2 large green, yellow and/or red peppers, cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 jumbo onion, cut in half then cut into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes in puree
• 1/2 (6 oz) can tomato paste
• 1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 lb penne pasta
• 1 pkg (8 oz) part-skim mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2–inch cubes
• 1/2 c freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Preparation

Step 1

Prepare sauce: In deep nonstick pan, cook sausage over medium-high heat 5 minutes or until browned on all sides; stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat to medium. Discard all but 2 tablespoons sausage grease. Add garlic, peppers and onion to sausage and cook, covered, 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes, puree and salt. Heat to boiling over medium heat, breaking up whole tomatoes with side of spoon. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400°. Cook pasta in salted water 2 minutes less than cooking time recommended on label.

Drain pasta. Return pasta to pot; stir in sauce to coat. Add mozzarella; toss to combine. Transfer to ungreased glass or ceramic baking dish and sprinkle with Romano.

Bake uncovered 20 to 25 minutes or until top browns and sauce is bubbling. Let stand 10 minutes for easier serving.