Baked Mozzarella Rigatoni

Total Time: 50 mins Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 6
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 mild italian sausage, casings removed
• 3 hot italian sausages, casings removed
• 12 ounces rigatoni pasta
• 2 1/2 cups marinara sauce (use your favorite)
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaf, coarsely chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 16 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese
• salt, to taste
• pepper, to taste

Recipe

• 1 pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
• 2 prepare fresh basil leaves by tearing or chopping them into dime-sized pieces and set aside.
• 3 cut about five slices of the fresh mozzarella cheese and set aside.
• 4 cube the remaining mozzarella cheese and set aside. i use about half of the cheese as cubes and about half as slices.
• 5 dice the tomatoes and set aside.
• 6 pour the olive oil into your favorite skillet and apply medium heat.
• 7 fill a large pot with water, and apply high heat to boil the pasta.
• 8 lightly oil a 9 x 13 inch baking dish that is about 2 inches deep.
• 9 into a large bowl, combine the marinara sauce, the diced tomatoes, the basil, the oregano, the red pepper flakes and the cubes of mozzarella.
• 10 remove the casings from the sausages and brown in the skillet, breaking the sausages into clumps.
• 11 cook the rigatoni in the boiling water until just tender. i like to add olive oil and salt to the water here, but you may cook your pasta how you like.
• 12 after the pasta and sausage are cooked, add both to the large bowl and thoroughly, but gently, combine.
• 13 once everything has been mixed, pour the contents of the bowl into the baking dish.
• 14 place the slices of mozzarella on top of the mixture. i like to cut the slices into smaller slices so i get a nice even distribution of mozzarella on the top of the mixture.
• 15 place in the pre-heated oven, on the middle rack, and bake for about 20 minutes.