Penne & Italian Sausage Bake

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 15 mins Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 1 lb italian sausage (hot or sweet)
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon cumin
• 1 red pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 green pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
• 1 (700 ml) jar tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• 3 cups penne
• 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water
• 3/4 lb mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Recipe

• 1 prick sausages in several places.
• 2 heat oil in a large, deep frying pan set over medium high heat.
• 3 add sausages& cook until evenly browned- about 8 minutes.
• 4 remove from pan& cut into 1/2 inch pieces.
• 5 add onions to fat remaining in pan& saute for about 5 minutes.
• 6 return sausages to pan.
• 7 add fennel, garlic, cumin, peppers& celery; cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
• 8 drain excess fat from pan.
• 9 stir tomato sauce, basil& wine into sausage mixture.
• 10 bring to a boil, then reduce heat& simmer for 15 minutes.
• 11 meanwhile, cook penne, according to package directions until el dente (about 10 minutes).
• 12 drain- reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.
• 13 combine sausage mixture, pasta & reserved cooking liquid in a 5 litre casserole dish.
• 14 mix well.
• 15 combine mozarella& parmesan cheese and parsley.
• 16 stir into the pasta mixture.
• 17 bake in preheated 375f oven for 30 minutes.