Category: Pasta

Pasta Sauce

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 small onion or 1/2 large onion (use more or less according to your preference) diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic minced (use more or less according to your preference)
  • 1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
  • 2 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes
  • handful of fresh basil (optional)
  • 2 handfuls of fresh spinach (optional)
  • 1/2 cup of sliced mushrooms (optional)

Warm the olive oil in a heavy duty pan (cast iron, Le Crueset, etc)

Cook the onion and garlic until soft.  Add the mushrooms, if desired, and cook until soft

Add the crushed and diced tomatoes

Cook on medium for 20 minutes.  Add the basil and spinach, if desired.

Serve over pasta or use in pasta bake.

Note:  This is really versatile and you can add Italian sausage, ground beef, or shrimp to this recipe.  Unless I am using shrimp, I always make it without meat and add the meat after the sauce is cooked because I have a vegetarian in the family.

 

Pasta Bake

  • 12 oz of pasta (penne or rigatoni) cooked according to package directions.  You can use either gluten free or regular
  • 1 pound of cooked bulk Italian sausage, sausage links cut into pieces, or ground beef
  • 3 cups of pasta sauce (see my recipe here)
  • 2 cups of mozzarella cheese (use less if you don’t like it so cheesy)

Mix all the ingredients together in an oven proof pan

Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until cheese is melted

Note:  I split this recipe and make a small casserole dish with vegetarian Italian sausage for the vegetarian in the family.  For the small casserole, I use about 1 cup of cooked pasta, 3/4 a cup of sauce, 1 sausage link, and about 3/4 a cup of cheese.

Serve with Parmesan cheese