Super-simple sweet potato and Italian sausage pasta bake recipe

Posted in Recipes.

Posted on March 8, 2019April 8, 2019 by Aaron Harvie

Pasta bake is a family favourite right around the world. It’s economical, easy to make and best of all a winner at the dinner table, no matter how fussy your kids are. Good news too is that among root vegetables, sweet potatoes have the lowest GI rating – so this dish will fill up tummies and keep them going for longer.

This delicious dish features rigatoni pasta slathered in a classic red sauce with fried sweet potato and Italian sausage, all smothered in mozzarella cheese and baked until the crust is golden brown. Just try and pretend you’re not drooling!

Sweet potato and Italian sausage pasta bake recipe

Serves 2 adults + 2 kids

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
450g pork and fennel sausage, removed from casing and chopped
450g sweet potato, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 x 400g tins of whole peeled tomatoes, mashed
400g rigatoni pasta
250g mozzarella, shredded
50g parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
Handful of basil leaves
sea salt and cracked black pepper, to season

Method

Step 1: Fill a pot with water, add some salt and bring to a rolling boil.

Step 2: Heat olive oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add the pork and fennel sausage. Cook until the sausage colours then add the garlic and sweet potato. Cook until coloured then add the tomatoes, bring to a boil then drop to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.

Step 3: While the tomato sauce is simmering, add the pasta to the pot of boiling water and cook until al dente. Save a couple of tablespoons of the starchy pasta water and then drain the pasta.

Step 4: Add the pasta water to the sauce, season, add the pasta to the sauce and mix together well.

Step 5: Add half the pasta to a baking dish then cover with half of the mozzarella and parmesan. Add the remaining pasta and top with the remaining cheese.

Step 6: Place the baking dish in the oven, cook for 20 minutes then remove and rest for another 10 minutes. Top with torn basil leaves and serve.