Baked Sausage Pasta with Fontina and Basil: Comfort in the rain

When it's cold and wet outside, I want to turn on my oven for primarily two reasons. One is that I live in a large house, but it is incredibly drafty and cold in the winter and no heating system can warm it up. We tried to warm it up our first winter living here, and all we managed to do was rack up a $500 heating bill one month. I was mortified. The oven warms the kitchen and gives it a comfy feel minus the dramatic dollar signs on my PGE bill. The second reason - I love baked savory things. I love sticking something in the oven, not having to mess with it, and then having it come out, ready to be eaten. It's the best. If you add ooey gooey something on top, even better. Bring THAT on home to me.

Ideally, I would be whipping up a lasagne, but I never seem to have enough time to make it in a manner I feel does it justice. I am still thinking and fiddling with some ideas I have, but in the meanwhile, I decided to whip up this dish - a pasta tossed with sausage and tomatoes, topped with fontina cheese and baked until the fontina is melty and gooey. Make no mistake - the fontina cheese is a MUST. Do NOT try and use mozzarella because fontina just has a special wonderful flavor, a different quality when melted and just makes the dish different. There are not that many ingredients in this dish, so the fontina flavor is very important.

Baked Sausage Pasta with Fontina and Basil
Serves 8

1 lb of pasta - elbow or ditalini would be a nice choice here
1 lb of sweet Italian sausage, casings removed (This is NOT precooked sausage. This is uncooked sausage. The outer skin of the sausage needs to be peeled off)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes or two cans of crushed tomatoes (crushed tomatoes creates a more "sauce-y" pasta, while the diced leaves chunks of tomato and a less saucy mix)
3/4 lb fontina cheese, rind removed, sliced as thinly as possible

1/2 cup basil chiffonade

Preheat oven to 350. In large pot, cook pasta according to package directions, ONE MINUTE less than required. Drain pasta and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add sausages and use the back of a spoon to break up into small pieces. Cook until evenly browned, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove sausage from the skillet and put on a plate, but leave the oil and fat. In the remaining oil, cook onions until translucent. Add garlic and cook for an additional minute. Add sausages back in and add tomatoes. Continue to cook until all the sauce is hot and bubbling. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Add pasta to the skillet and toss, then pour into a 3 quart casserole dish. (I used two smaller casserole dishes.) Top with slices of fontina cheese.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is all melted. Remove from oven and top with basil chiffonade. Serve!

Printable recipe

Warm up your house and tummy with this when the weather is wet.

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