It's Gravy, Not Sauce

If you were asked what type of food you would have if you could only choose one type to eat every day, I'm willing to bet the majority would choose something of the Italian variety. This question is tough because of its limiting nature, but Italian dishes are one thing that just never seem to get boring to a majority of Americans. One dish can be unbelievably simple in components, just a mix of tomato, garlic and olive oil, yet often more satisfying than something with a laundry list of ingredients. Another can be complex with each ingredient adding a different intense flavor beyond the usual tomato, but somehow all coming together perfectly. Leftovers that often taste better a couple days later, despite the wave of laziness that hits you as you hit 'start' on the microwave. It's the comfiest of comfort food, even if you didn't grow up in an Italian family that you saw on (insert movie/show that depicts an Italian family here).

After coming back to NY I was quickly reminded of the Italian influence on this city. As someone who's constantly searching for/comparing slices of pizza, this is good news. And the best part of living somewhere with a big Italian community is benefitting from the abundance of fresh (sort of local, or imported over the atlantic) ingredients at your fingertips.

If you want to cook something that offers
a) comfort satisfaction that can only come in the form of something covered in tomato sauce
b) relatively ease of effort
c) leftovers for dayzzzz

then make yourself some bomb diggity baked pasta. There are a million ways to do this, but this one has always treated me well. Ready? Go!

What you need:
- 1.5 lbs italian sausage. I went with a mix of hot and sweet, you can do whatever you want.
- 1 ball of mozzarella. I bought the fresh stuff but you can use shredded.
- Parmesan or Romano or BOTH? Romano has a sharper almost spicy taste, so try both
- 1 lb penne pasta
- 1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes. Go with any brand but tuttoroso or anything that says San Marzano are great
- 1 green pepper
- 1 zucchini (don't leave this out, it's weirdly awesome here)
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 shallot
- A few cloves of garlic

Seasonings you need
- Garlic powder
- Crushed red pepper
- Oregano
- Salt and Pepper

1. Start off by making your sauce. Unless you buy a jar of premade sauce, then you can skip this. And I'd fully understand if you did, we're all busy. But I suggest you slow it down a little to let this sauce simmer then do this. Saute your garlic, onions, and shallots for a few minutes, then throw in the tomatoes. Mix in some garlic powder, oregano, salt & pepper, and crushed red pepper. You can let this simmer on low as long as you want. This is a good thing to make when you're just hanging around the house.

Crush those Tomatoes

 2. While the sauce is cooking get your sausage ready. Brown it up nice in some hot olive oil

Sausage Fest

3. Cook those carbs. You want to cook your penne for about half the time it would be needed to actually cook through, so about 6 or 7 minutes. It's going to cook more in the oven so you don't want to overdo it.

 4. While the pasta is cooking (yes, this is the last thing you have to do while something else is happening), you want to roast your veggies. I used zucchini, peppers, and onions, but you could add in lots of things here. Mushrooms? Eggplant? Whatever you want. Just turn on the broiler and roast away.

 

5. Now mix everything you've been toiling away on in one nice, pyrex glass type of dish. Mix it up nice and now cover that carb concoction in some parmesan and mozzarella. Say it with me now 'Moootzarella". Cover it up with some tin foil and bake in the oven at 350 for about 20-30 mins max, or whenever the cheese is melting and looking NICE. Your eyes will tell you when it's done, or just grab a fork and start digging.

 

 

  Not the prettiest, but oh' so good