Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage
- Comments()
- Prep Time 30 minutes
- Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield Serves 8
Ingredients
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium red onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup vodka (optional)
- 1 can (28 ounces) whole tomatoes with juice, lightly crushed with hands
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 pound rigatoni
- 10 ounces baby spinach
- 12 ounces smoked chicken sausage, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/4 inch thick
- 6 ounces fontina cheese, 4 ounces cut into 1/2-inch cubes and 2 ounces coarsely grated
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion; cook until translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in garlic. Remove from heat; add vodka, if desired. Return to heat; cook until almost evaporated, 1 minute.
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Stir in tomatoes and oregano; cook until tomatoes are falling apart, 10 to 15 minutes. Add cream; cook until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Season sauce with salt and pepper.
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Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook pasta in the boiling water until al dente, according to package instructions. Add spinach, and cook just until wilted. Drain, and return contents to pot.
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Add tomato sauce, sausage, and cubed fontina to pot; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Divide evenly between two shallow 1 1/2-quart baking dishes.
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Top with grated fontina and Parmesan. Bake until browned and edges are crisp, 20 to 30 minutes.
Cook's Note
To freeze, prepare the dish through step 4; let cool completely before covering tightly with plastic wrap and placing in the freezer. If you freeze this dish, do not thaw before baking. Remove plastic wrap, and cover with foil. Cook until heated through, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours. Remove foil, and continue with step 5.
Now this is sooo a recipe I want to try!
For "queenzookie",try drainging tinned Tomatoes.Use Your Favourite Flavours and Taste if not using un~pasterised Eggs.Should renew Faith in Miss.Martha.
this is one of our fav's in the family. although it says it's 2 recipes, it barely lasts us one dinner! thanks martha!!!
Best baked pasta dish. I substitute mozzarella for the fontina and use crushed tomatoes from the can as a short cut. Everyone loves it.
With so many flavorful ingredients, I expected this to be very tasty. But I found it to be barely mediocre. It was less than the sum of its parts. Sorry, Martha!
I used ground chkicken and seasoned it with Penzey's Italian Sausage seasoning - perfect and cost effective!
I had to use Hilshire Farms Smoked Turkey Sausage as chicken was not available. Also Fontina cheese was $23.00/lb at Safeway so I used a 4-Italian shredded cheese mix instead. I think the idea here is to get a smokey flavor, but my family said to try either sweet or hot Italian sausage next time. The vodka sauce makes this very good.
I substituted a few things to this dish....Italian Sweet Basil Sausage for the Chicken Sausage and my grocery store didnt have fontina cheese but used Mozzerella instead. Excellent recipe!
My family loved this recipe, I had nothing left. I love that I can put the second dish in the freezer for another dinner. Perfect! I substituted the Italian Sweet Basil for the chicken sausage. Delicious! Definately make this dish again.
I added pancetta in mine and it came out totally divine.
To christydiane: I believe the chicken sausage described here is precooked. If I were substituting raw ground turkey sausage I would definitely cook and crumble first.
I tried jarred Vodka pasta sauce in this dish, and it worked just fine. Also substituted vegetarian Italian sausage for chicken sausage. Delicious!
This is DELICIOUS made just as directed but you can do fine with a jarred sauce. Also Fontina is a yummy melty Italian cheese but good substitutes would be mozzarella, Asiago - even a shredded Gruyere ["Swiss-y"] cheese would be good.
Is the smoked chicken sausage already cooked? I am substituting ground turkey sausage and was wondering if i should brown it before putting in the recipe.
Is the smoked chicken sausage already cooked? I am substituting ground turkey sausage and was wondering if i should brown it before putting in the recipe.
You can find excellent chicken sausage at Cosco or Sams. Many butcher shops make thier own and also many Italian markets.In fact, Emirel even has one that is quite tasty.
Sprouts, Whole Foods and Central Market in texas all carry Turkey Sausage. You can also get Jenny O Turkey Sausage at Target Superstores
Any recommendations on a brand or source for chicken sausage? Several recipes call for it, but I haven't found it in regular grocery chains in Texas.
I'll try to remember to let you know, I'm going to to store and using the jarred sauce for tonight.
Is it possible to substitute jarred vodka pasta sauce in this dish instead of making the sauce in the recipe? This would save some time.
red6586--Thanks for the suggestion- I may try pepper jack for more punch! My apologies for multiple entries. No indications that 1 submit worked!
Hi novawalker,
Mozzarella would be a good substitute, although not as flavorful, but easier on the checkbook too.
What is a good substitue for fontina cheese? I've never had it?
Has anyone here made their own sausage? I saw this and wondered about making my own chicken sausage, adding our fav seasonings. Any advice?
This is really good and flavorful! The flavors really meld well together and are subtly delicious. I followed recipe exactly. I definately recommend this one!
Recipe did not say what SIZE pan of pasta this makes. It only makes one 13x9, as a previous commenter noted. Very tasty though. I used kale instead of spinach.
This is a delicious dish. I made it just in one 13x9 pan. I made it a day in advance and was able to cook it right before a dinner party. It turned out great.
Delicious. Makes 2 9x9 casseroles. Next time I will shred all of the cheese instead of just the cheese for the top. Great to make on a weekend when you have kitchen time and then freeze for easy weeknight meal with little cleanup. Good leftovers for work too! I will keep this in my lineup
Turned out great! I ended up doubling the recipe because we are having two sets of friends over this week. I froze half and served the other half last night. Very good!
Good. So good! It's quick and definately easy to make for a starter cook like me! My husband thought my cooking skills are definately improving after this dish!