Easy Sausage Pasta Bake

A Sausage Pasta Bake is a great one-pot meal. It's tasty, economical and perfect for using up any leftover veg. Simply fry up your vegetables with the sausages, stir in passata and cooked pasta and top with grated mozarella cheese for a quick and easy supper. You can even prepare it in advance. This is a great recipe for using my Mediterranean Pasta Sauce Recipe if you have some in the freezer, or you can follow the recipe below for an easy sauce.

Sausages work really well in a pasta bake. Just chop them up into bite sized pieces and they are like little meatballs. Try to buy as good quality sausages as possible with a high pork content. You can use flavoured sausages if you like to spice it up a little. In the US I would recommend using Italian sausage meat which has a great flavour. You may need to remove the skin from italian sausages. You can of course use vegetarian or vegan sausages for a vegetarian sausage pasta bake. Replace the grated mozarella cheese with a vegan cheddar cheese.

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Recipe Tips & Variations

• For a creamy sauce, stir in a few tablespoons of soft cream cheese such as marscapone or ricotta or a basic soft cream cheese.
• You can substitute the sausage for chicken for a chicken pasta bake, which is also a great way to use up any leftover chicken.
• Take the opportunity to use up any leftover vegetables but use softer vegetables such as onions, peppers, mushrooms, courgette (zucchini), aubergine (eggplant).
• Some people like to have meat free days to reduce their carbon footprint. Others prefer to just reduce the meat content in recipes. You can easily replace some of the sausages in this pasta bake with more vegetables.
• I like to use Rigatoni pasta, but you can use any pasta shapes such as penne, fusilli etc.
• You can prepare a sausage pasta bake in advance. Store it in the fridge up to 24 hours before cooking.

How to make it

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1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C/ 350F/ Gas Mark 4. Put the pasta on to boil as per the packet instructions then drain. Cook until it is al dente or still a little firm. The pasta will continue to cook in the oven.
2. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan or oven proof casserole dish. Fry the chopped sausages for 5 minutes.
3. Add the onion and pepper and fry for 2 minutes. Add the courgette and mushrooms and fry for a further 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the passata. Add the worcestshire sauce and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cream cheese at this point if you want your sauce more creamy.
5. Stir in the fresh basil leaves and spinach until it has wilted then stir in the rigatoni.
6. Transfer everything to an oven proof dish.
7. Sprinkle over the mozarella cheese and bake in the oven for 20 - 25 minutes

Sustainability

Buying meat from a local source can help to reduce your carbon footprint. If you have a local butcher, I would recommend shopping there. Lots of them make their own sausages and they are generally very good quality. Buy your vegetables loose without any plastic packaging and try to buy local. Reducing food miles is a significant step towards reducing our carbon footprint. Shopping local helps support our local economies.

Storage

Store in the fridge for 2 - 3 days. To reheat your pasta bake, cover with foil to prevent the top from burning and reheat in the oven at 180C /350F/Gas Mark 4 for 25 - 30 minutes until piping hot. It can also be eaten cold and is great for lunch the next day. You can freeze a pasta bake. Store in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 - 4 months.

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