Every ten days or so, Rick or I say “You know what sounds good? -and then the other one of us says “Spaghetti?!” and we both laugh at our similarity of craving.

I make a Pasta Sauce that we, of course, have with spaghetti, but the best thing about it is that it is so versatile for other pasta dishes such as Lasagna or this Baked Rigatoni. We almost always have some “weeknight favorite” pasta version made with it on hand.

Pasta Sauce

• 1 lb sweet Italian Sausage, links or bulk
• 1/2 lb spicy Italian Sausage, links or bulk
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 ribs of celery, diced
• 1 large green bell pepper, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper diced
• 1/2 large sweet carrot, finely grated
• 8oz fresh button or other mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 bays leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 Tablespoon fresh oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme or 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh thyme
• 1 large tablespoon prepared Basil Pesto
• two-three (depending on how chunky you want your sauce) 16oz  cans San Marzano tomatoes or peeled and pulped tomatoes or tomato sauce
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• salt and pepper
• * a spoonful of sugar

The most important step is to brown the sausage well, you can roast in the oven if you use links and then remove the casings and slice, or brown the bulk sausage in the bottom of a heavy bottomed stockpot or a cast iron skillet. Once the meat is thoroughly browned, remove it and let it rest in a  warm oven on a platter or baking sheet lined with paper towels. Cook the onion, celery, peppers, and mushrooms in the pan you used to cook the sausage- you may or may not need to add a little olive oil depending on how much fat from the sausage remains in the pan. If you have a lot you can remove some- you just want enough to saute the vegetables in and give a little flavour. When the onions are translucent add the garlic and cook a bit – you don’t want to brown or burn it or it will add a bitter note to your sauce. After it is cooked a bit add the carrot and the herbs and then the tomato sauce and paste. Then add the pesto. Cook for about 15 minutes and then add the meat back in and let it all simmer for as long as you can. It gets better the longer it cooks.  Taste it and adjust and seasonings along with salt and pepper to taste. *I learned somewhere along the way that with tomatoes sometimes you need to add a spoonful of sugar to mellow the acidity and bring the fullness of their flavour out. Sometimes the carrot is sweet enough to accomplish this by itself. Try it and see what you think.

Baked Rigatoni

• 1 lb dry Rigatoni, cooked and drained but not rinsed
• 4 cups Pasta Sauce from above, heated
• 1 lb Ricotta cheese
• 1 lb Mozzarella, diced plus additional slices for the top
• 1 cup Parmesan, grated

Preheat the oven to 350F. Cook the noodles in boiling salted water until just Al Dente, drain but don’t rinse so the sauce will cling. Put the noodles back in the drained cooking pot and add the heated sauce. Then add the Ricotta and the diced Mozzarella. Combine and put in a shallow casserole dish. Top with slices of Mozzarella and the Parmesan. Cook uncovered for about 45 minutes until the cheese is melted and everything is heated though. Let sit for a couple of minutes and then serve.  10 servings.

Enjoy.