When I was in university, the cafeteria made a dish that soon became a favourite – rigatoni and sausage. In fact, it was my first exposure to that wonderful group of foods called pasta bakes. Sure, I’d had lasagna before, but there is something about pasta shapes, such as rigatoni or penne, baked with pasta sauce and topped with melted cheese. This recipe isn’t quite what I had in mind – as it had more sauce than I intended – but it was so tasty, I thought I’d post it anyways.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 large red onion
2 cloves garlic
20g olive oil
2 cups wholemeal penne
2 x 400g can diced tomato
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp dried parsley
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1 tbsp Thermomix stock concentrate
500g thin sausages
150g grated tasty or cheddar cheese
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Cook pasta according to the package instructions
3. In the Thermomix, chop onion and garlic for 3 seconds/Speed 5
4. Scrape down sides, add oil and sauté with the measuring cup (MC) off for 3 minutes/100C/Speed 1
5. Put sausages in lower tray of varoma and put the lid on
6. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs into the Thermomix bowl, close lid and put Varoma on top
7. Cook sauce and sausages for 20 minutes/Varoma/Speed 2
8. Remove Varoma and leave sausages to cool slightly
9. Purée sauce for 20 seconds – slowly going from Speed 1 to Speed 7
10. Cut sausages into 1.5cm pieces and add to the sauce
11. Add butterfly to the Thermomix bowl and add drained pasta
12. Mix for 10 seconds/Reverse/Speed 1
13. Pour pasta and sauce into a square roasting dish (about 24cm x 24cm) and sprinkle with cheese
14. Bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is melted and slightly browned
Pasta Sauce
Penne and Sausage after mixing
