Baked Rigatoni

So I made some pretty tasty Baked Rigatoni with Italian sausage and Portabellas. I made the whole dish in the Dutch Oven, except for the boiling of the rigatoni. Be aware that if you make this you will have MASS leftovers and if you don’t give them away you will surely be eating baked rigatoni for a couple weeks.

Ingredients

1 box rigatoni

4 links sweet Italian sausage

3 portabella mushroom caps

1 medium onion

1 carrot

1-2 stalks celery

3 cloves garlic

1-2 tbls tomato paste

½ cup red wine (I had Chianti)

1 14 ounce can whole peeled tomatoes (crushed by hand)

1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 package fresh basil

8 slices provolone

¼ cup shredded asiago

EVOO

Crushed red pepper

Salt and Pep

Method

I browned the whole links in the Dutch oven with a little oil. I browned them whole because I wanted to have chunks of sausage in the dish. After I removed the links I then browned the sliced portabellas and removed them. Next the meirpoix, with a pretty rough chop because I wanted large pieces of veggies. In hind sight I wish I would have added some chopped Red Bell Pepper as well. After sautéing off the veggies and I added the garlic and the tomato paste for a few secs, then I deglazed with the Chianti and had plenty of fabulous bits to scrape up from the sausage. After the wine reduced I added the broken up whole tomatoes and crushed tomatoes, some salt and pep. I let the sauce cook for about 30 minutes or so while I boiled the rigatoni separately. I shut off the heat and to the sauce I added the cooked rigatoni, the chunks of sausage, the browned mushrooms, and an entire pack of basil that I just tore by hand into large pieces. Mixed that all together then topped with the cheese and some EVOO. I put the lid on and into a 400 degree oven for 15-20 mins, then I took the lid off for about 10 mins to brown it up. Turned out really good, the best part was the “smokiness” of the provolone. J