With the hectic holiday season I like a dinner that can feed someone who is cold, hungry and tired all with little effort. I am that cold, hungry and tired person and I don't want to be slaving in the kitchen for hours on end to get a meal together.
The other day I wanted a pasta bake so bad. Red sauce. Cheesy goodness. I couldn't get it out of my mind. But I also wanted something healthy and had very little energy left to put into making a meal.
I had a bag of rainbow swiss chard I steamed up. I mixed that in with cheese, ground sausage and red sauce and threw it in a baking dish with some cooked past. After 30 minutes in the oven I had this wonderful dinner. Nice and filling, packed with flavors from the sausage and so simple to put together.
It feeds a crowd so I can see this being the perfect dish to bring to holiday potluck or to serve to some friends at a holiday party. It definitely met my craving for a nice baked pasta meal.
Swiss Chard and Sausage Pasta Bake
by
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients (serves 8)
- 16 oz pasta, cooked al dente according to the package directions
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 16 oz bag rainbow swiss chard, washed and chopped
- 1 lb ground hot Italian sausage
- 8 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
- 8 oz tomato sauce
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9X13 baking pan.
Cook pasta al dente according to the package directions. Drain and set aside when finished.
As pasta is cooking, add 1 Tbsp of olive oil to a saute pan. Heat on medium high and cook onions till just soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds more. Add bag of swiss chard. Toss gently until the swiss chard is cooked down. I had about 1/2 cup of water to help quicken the cooking process. The greens should all be wilted and down in around 15 minutes.
In a separate pan cook ground sausage until down about 10 minutes.
In large bowl combine, pasta, swiss chard, sausage, red sauce and 4 oz of the cheese. Pour into the baking dish.
Top with remaining cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes until sauce is bubbling and cheese is beginning to brown. Serve immediately.
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I agree, there's nothing like a big casserole of baked pasta in the winter. I'd been getting some rather pointed requests, so this weekend I bit the bullet and made the always time-consuming lasagna. It took a couple hours, but it yielded dinner for the night, dinner for a second night, two freezer lunches for work, and a to-go platter for a sick friend. That's less than 20 minutes per meal, so time well spent. I'm still working on getting everyone to eat veggies IN the bake, but they will eat them on the side. Baby steps.
ReplyDeleteI usually put spinach in pasta... but I like the idea of switching it up to swiss chard. :)
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