TASTY TUESDAY

 

     Mounds of shredded Mozzarella cheese top this tasty pasta dish.  Browned Italian sausage (sweet, mild, or hot) are sliced and mixed in with the mostaccioli adding a delightful touch of meat to this easy dish.  Just serve with a tossed salad and some garlic bread if you like.  You will have a table full of satisfied appetites.

Five links of pre-packaged Italian sausage

1 Cup of chopped onion or 1 TBL of minced dried onions

2 jars of Classico Italian Sauce (Traditional Sweet Basil)

16 oz. of Mostaccioli or Rigatoni

1/4 Cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese or Kraft (which I use when I do not have fresh)

1 Cup, packed, of shredded mozzarella cheese

1 TBL of chopped fresh parsley or dried flakes (mixed in)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown the sausage in 1 TBL of Bertoli Extra Light Olive Oil.  Turn the sausage so it browns evenly on all sides. Toward the end of the browning time, put in the fresh chopped onion to brown or add the flakes later to the casserole. Remove sausage and place on a paper-towel covered dish to drain off the fat.  Then cut into 1/2" slices.

While the sausage is browning, cook the pasta.  I boil the water in an 6-quart covered pot.  Add a few drops of olive oil to keep the pasta from sticking.  Once water has boiled, turn the heat down to medium or lower and add pasta.  Cook pasta uncovered for 12 min.  Drain the pasta and rinse quickly under cold water.  Drain again.

Add pasta, sauce, sausage, and Parmesan cheese to a 13 X 9" pan and mix carefully together.  Add minced onion flakes (if you did not brown chopped onion) and dried parsley flakes now.

Bake 20 min. covered.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over pasta.  Continue baking uncovered for 5 minutes.  If you are using fresh parsley, add touches of it around the casserole and serve.

Enjoy!