Sausage and Eggplant Pasta Bake

I like planning. To a fault. I also like cooking, to a fault. The problem with that is that you can't always plan how much time you'll have after work, and often I get cravings for meals that take a bit more time to make and simply don't have the energy to make them on a weeknight. This is one of those meals. The baked, spicy spaghetti is delicious every single time and KEEPS really well in the fridge. When I have the right ingredients I like to make a batch on Saturday or Sunday and then bake it in the oven whenever I need a quick meal during the week. It's also a great meal to take to someone who's sick, just had a baby, or who you feel like you owe a meal because you did something inappropriate at their house after drinking too much Baileys.

Also, there's sausage in this meal.

Baked Sausage Pasta

This is easy to assemble and you can totally drink lots of boxed wine while the different ingredients cook. I make my own marinara sauce to go with it, but you can certainly use a jar - it's that much easier that way! As a note, the marinara recipe that's linked above can be made and frozen until your firstborn heads to college, even if you haven't conceived the little fund-sucker yet. Keep some on hand at all times for quick meals!

This recipe makes 6-8 portions. You'll need:

1 lb long pasta
½ lb sausage (hot Italian pork for me, but use whatever you like!)
1 lb eggplant (1 medium eggplant or equivalent)
4 cups or 1 jar marinara sauce
½ lb mozzarella cheese

Boil some water for the pasta, salt it heavily, and cook it according to package directions MINUS TWO MINUTES. It'll keep cooking later. Set it aside.

Meanwhile, brown the sausage. I have this lovely organic stuff from the farmer's market!

I squish the sausage out of the casing into a really hot pan and feed the casing to my dogs. Then they promise to love me forever. Using a spoon, I break up the sausage as it cooks.

Keep cooking the sausage for about 10 minutes until it's brown on the outside and cooked through, breaking it up as you go.

Once the sausage is cooked through, remove it to a dish, leaving the pan on and the drippings HOT.

I generally eat most of my sausage while I cook the rest of the meal, so you might want to cook more than ½ lb if your'e like me. Or, practice some self-restraint and let me know how it goes.

Now, find some moldy eggplant from the farmers market 3 weeks ago.

They were adorable when I brought them home and then I didn't use them and didn't use them and didn't use them and now....they're perfect for baked pasta! Cut off the ends and cut the eggplant into bite-sized cubes. Then, add them to the hot pan with a sprinkle of salt and saute them until they're brown but still firm - about 5 minutes total, stirring occasionally.

Note: I usually use 1 pint mushrooms, halved and browned, as well, but I didn't have any on this day and Jay hates mushrooms with a fiery passion. Add them in though if you like! It adds to the volume of the dish without adding calories - always a good thing!

Once the sausage and eggplant are browned, the pasta is standing by, and marinara is off to the side waiting its turn, let's get the mozzarella ready.

This is half a pound. Grate one cup and set it aside. Then, to the rest of the cheese, cut it into thick planks...

And then cut the planks into strips, then cut each strip into cubes.

Yay cheese! Now, mix ⅔ of the pasta, 3 cups of the marinara sauce, the cheese cubes, sausage, and eggplant in one big bowl/pot/pan/garbage can.

Once this majesty is mixed up, analyze your life: do you want more sauce in the mixture? More noodles? More SALT? Taste as you go and add in more sauce, salt, or noodles until you get the mix that you like. I like lots of sauce so I usually use all 4 cups and leave some noodles out for leftovers later on. That's just me though!

Now, put the mixture into one or two baking dishes - don't fill them too much!

And top the whole thing with the cup of grated cheese you saved from earlier - remember?

I was at Jay's house and he doesn't have a grater, so I made him cut cheese into small bits. He did it. I wasn't mad, and guess what? Cheese melts in all forms when you put it in a hot oven.

Now, once the food is in the casserole dish, you can cover it and stick it in the freezer for up to 3 weeks or the fridge for up to 4 days. Or, you can cook it right now!

When you're ready to cook, cook the pasta covered at 375F for 30 minutes, then check the very center. If it's still cool, let it cook for 15 more minutes covered. If it's hot, uncover and cook for 15 more minutes to brown the cheese so it looks like this:

Yay! This is beautiful. Let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes and then slice it like lasagna and serve. This would be SO GOOD with garlic bread and Caesar salad....yum! Make this this weekend and save it for a night when you're too pooped to cook. Better yet, make it Saturday morning and eat it on the couch in front of a football game Saturday or Sunday night!

Sausage and Eggplant Pasta Bake

Baked Sausage Pasta

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Baked Sausage Pasta

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