By Marie Fagan Peart | marie@haldimandpress.com
At Christmas time Santa kindly left me a couple of food magazines. One was Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Cookies and the other was Allrecipes: 100 Best Recipes. Readers may be familiar with the website All Recipes. Whenever I search online for a particular dish, this website usually comes up as one of the top 10 results. This website is the source for the compilation of recipes for the print copy. The magazine is published five times a year.
The first dish I tried was baked pasta with sausage and cheese. What I really appreciated about this recipe was the fact it used only one skillet for the entire dish. That is a real time saver.
The recipe called for ziti pasta. Looking into pasta variations, I discovered that ziti is a 2-inch-long tubular pasta with a smooth surface and straight cut ends. It originated in Sicily and gets its name from the word “zita”, which means bride. This pasta is traditionally served as one of the dishes at a wedding meal. It was difficult for me to find this locally, so I substituted it with penne. I didn’t have heavy cream in the fridge, so I used 2% instead. Despite the substitutions, this turned out to be a delicious meal. A simple green salad was the perfect accompaniment.
The lime dressing used for the salad greens is very simple to make, light tasting, and just a wee bit different than what I usually use. It works well when the salad is paired with a heavier main course. I don’t like much heat, so I eliminated the chili flakes and jalapeno. That’s what’s nice about making your own – you can have all the heat you want! Enjoy!
Skillet Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage and Mozzarella
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage,
casings removed
1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper,
plus more for garnish
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
1 28 oz/854ml can crushed tomatoes
1 pound/454 gr package ziti pasta
3½ cups tap water
¾ cup heavy cream
3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
Basil leaves for garnish
Heat oil in a 12-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add sausage, and cook, breaking apart with a wooden spoon to crumble, until browned and cooked through, for about 6 minutes. Drain excess fat if needed.
Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper; cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tap water, and pasta. Bring to a simmer then reduce heat to medium-low.
Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until pasta is al dente and most liquid is absorbed, about 15 to 18 minutes
Pre-heat oven to broil.
Remove skillet from heat. Stir in heavy cream and 1½ cups of the mozzarella until combined. Top with remaining cheese.
Place in oven and broil until cheese has melted and started to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Garnish with basil and more black pepper.
Lime Dressing
¼ cup olive oil
Juice of 1 lime
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon chili flakes or ½ jalapeno,
seeded and minced
Sea salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients together. Pour over a mixed green salad.
