Easy kid-friendly sausage pasta bake recipe

Posted in Recipes.

Posted on April 27, 2016March 27, 2019 by Lexi Klaebe

Whenever I ask the kids what they want for dinner, I can confidently bet my last dollar on my youngest yelling sausages!. Argh. A quick look in the butcher’s case or at your local supermarket will likely reveal a section of fancy flavoured sausages – gourmet if you will (anything which is not a regular BBQ snag is coined gourmet in my kitchen). In about half an hour you can turn your sausages into a one pan oven dinner, perfectly comforting for these cooler evenings!

These little gourmet beauties are a little more expensive than regular old sausages, but they’re also a whole lot more flavoursome and definitely worthy of the extra dollars. Of course you can use the regular BBQ sausages for this recipe, you may just need to boost the herbs up for a flavoursome punch.

Ingredients

50g stale bread
50g cheddar cheese, grated
6 flavoured sausages (I’ve used lamb, leek and thyme flavoured sausages)
1 brown onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon dried oregano
a handful of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
100g of baby spinach leaves
500g – 600g jar of tomato pasta sauce
500g rigatoni pasta
¼ cup of cream
sea salt flakes and black pepper for seasoning
olive oil

Method

Start with getting a pot of salted water on the boil for your pasta and preheat your oven to 200°C. Find a large oven proof dish and keep that handy.
In a food processor, tear your stale bread into pieces and give it a quick pulse to make bread crumbs. Tip into a bowl and add the grated cheese, a pinch of sea salt, a teaspoon of dried oregano and a drizzle of olive oil, stir to combine and set aside.

If your boiling water is ready, put your pasta in – cook for two minutes less than instructed on the box – we want it al dente, not soft to the bite! Drain when cooked.
Take the skin off of the raw sausages and discard – the sausage meat is what we’re after! With wet hands, roll into small meatballs (around 24) start to cook these in a pan with a little oil, until they’re lightly browned all over.

To the meatballs, add the diced onion, crushed garlic and teaspoon of dried rosemary. Cook, stirring until onion is soft.

Add to the pan the baby spinach leaves and cherry tomatoes. It looks like a lot of spinach, but it will wilt down, don’t panic with thoughts of Popeye. Add your cooked and drained pasta to the pan, or if your pan isn’t big enough, tip it all into the oven proof dish.

Add in the cream and pasta sauce – start by just adding half a jar and add more if you want it saucier. Season with salt and pepper and toss lightly so everything gets a lick of sauce. Transfer to oven proof dish if you haven’t already.

Cover with the breadcrumb mix and sprinkle with a little extra oregano and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake in oven for 15 minutes until the top is golden.

A combination of two recipes originally from Jamie Oliver and one of my favourite bloggers, Baby Mac, this recipe is sure to be a hit with the kids – and sure beats a regular sausage dinner!