Spicy Baked Pasta with Sausage Ragù
It’s baked ziti-esque — but better!
I love a bowl of pasta almost anytime (I mean, who doesn’t?), but I love a baking dish full of crunchy-topped, cheesy baked pasta even more. Baking the pasta in a dish instantly turns it into food for entertaining, or just an extra-special weeknight dish with hardly any extra effort. In fact, it may be a bit easier, since you can prep ahead in a couple of ways and by a couple of days, if you wish.
First, you can make this ragù anytime. It will keep well for at least a few days in the fridge and forever in the freezer, and is good as a straight-up pasta sauce, without the baking step. I won’t stop you! You could also assemble the whole dish, top it with cheese, and keep it covered in the fridge until shortly before serving, leaving only the baking for the last minute (uh, I mean hour). Personally, I’d opt for cooking the pasta and assembling the dish right before baking so the noodles don’t absorb too much sauce sitting in the fridge. I’m splitting hairs though — that’s what I do! — and am confident that a prepped-ahead bake will still be fabulous.
I “renovated” this recipe from one I included in my last book, Open Kitchen, which was geared (kinda) toward entertaining. I categorized it as a “project” because it is one, when you consider that I was asking you to make homemade pici, a simple hand-rolled pasta that is absolutely worth making and not difficult as far as fresh pasta goes, but, I admit, is pretty time consuming. I also wanted to lighten up the recipe a bit by using leaner turkey sausage instead of pork sausage. I added fresh mushrooms in addition to the dry porcini mushrooms for more mushroom flavor and to add some vegetable bulk. It’s a spectacular dish, but one I fear did not get enough love the first go around because the price of entry may have been too high. Even though I encouraged substituting a boxed pasta for the homemade pici, I’m not sure anyone did.
This iteration still takes a little more time than a typical weeknight dinner, but if you make the sauce ahead of time, it will do just fine for a fast meal. It’s super hearty and satisfying for these last days of winter (wait, it’s only February, but my head is already in spring). I for one cannot WAIT to turn the clocks ahead in just a few short weeks, but in the meantime, take comfort in this deliciousness.
Tips:
If you want to make this with a full pound of pasta (to serve more people), bake the dish a little longer, close to 45 minutes.
If you want to assemble the dish the day before or a few hours before baking, bring it back to room temperature for at least 30 minutes before you bake it, and add about 15 minutes to the cook time.
Don’t try to be too neat when assembling in the baking dish. Let some pasta pieces hang out and stick up so they get brown and crunchy. (The best bit!)
You can use whole-milk or part-skim mozzarella, but the packaged chunk is preferable to “fresh” mozzarella, which won’t melt as well. If you find it too hard to grate, just cut it up into small pieces.
On that note, avoid the pre-grated bagged stuff. The cheese won’t melt as well as if you grate it yourself due to the powdery stuff it’s coated with.
I used sweet turkey sausage here, but you could use hot turkey sausage if you like it spicier, or pork sausage, which will be more flavorful, but a bit heavier.
Adjust the spice to your liking, using more or less red pepper flakes. I like to add some to the sauce in the beginning, and more at the end. If you are serving to spice-averse people, just pass some red pepper flakes at the table.
If freezing half the sauce, let it chill for at least a few hours in the fridge before doing so.
This time last year…
Here’s what we were cooking on Susanality last February. Add these to your late-winter menu!
Radicchio + Beet + Fennel Salad
Turkey Chili
Magical Greens Pancakes (paywalled)
Spicy Baked Pasta with Sausage Ragu
Serves 4 to 6
This recipe will make enough sauce for a full pound of pasta, which will feed a crowd, and can be baked in a large (3-quart) baking dish. I chose to make a small batch, using half the sauce and 8 ounces of pasta, which was plenty for 2 of us, with leftovers. If you make a small batch, freeze half the sauce for the future.