Sausage and Pasta Bake
Today's Daily Plate is a combination of several comfort foods. It pairs jalapeno pork sausage (what can be more comforting than that?) with whole wheat pasta and adds three different types of cheese in a homemade cheese sauce. Just talking about it makes me comfortable all over again! Oh, and don't forget homemade whole wheat bread on the side.
The pasta was made up of odds and ends of packages and boxes I had on the shelf. Mostly it is penne and shells, but there are also some bow ties. The sausage was a local store brand of link sausages filled with jalapeno and a bit spicy. To this I added onions, bell peppers and a couple of fresh jalapeno peppers and sauteed the lot up in a skillet. Meanwhile, I boiled the pasta until al dente, and combined the two in a large casserole dish. Then, I made a roux of equal parts flour and butter (I was making an extra large batch, so I used 6 tablespoons of each which made 4 1/2 cups of final sauce and would have been better with five cups). When the roux began to darken slightly, I added two cups of milk and 2 1/2 cups of half and half. Once the sauce began to thicken, I added about three cups total of cheese: mozzarella, cheddar and smoked Gruyere. When the cheese was completely melted, I poured it over the pasta and sausage. Then I sprinkled the top with wheat germ and popped it into a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. The result was delicious, but sauce should have been a bit thinner as mentioned above.
The pasta was made up of odds and ends of packages and boxes I had on the shelf. Mostly it is penne and shells, but there are also some bow ties. The sausage was a local store brand of link sausages filled with jalapeno and a bit spicy. To this I added onions, bell peppers and a couple of fresh jalapeno peppers and sauteed the lot up in a skillet. Meanwhile, I boiled the pasta until al dente, and combined the two in a large casserole dish. Then, I made a roux of equal parts flour and butter (I was making an extra large batch, so I used 6 tablespoons of each which made 4 1/2 cups of final sauce and would have been better with five cups). When the roux began to darken slightly, I added two cups of milk and 2 1/2 cups of half and half. Once the sauce began to thicken, I added about three cups total of cheese: mozzarella, cheddar and smoked Gruyere. When the cheese was completely melted, I poured it over the pasta and sausage. Then I sprinkled the top with wheat germ and popped it into a 350-degree oven for 30 minutes. The result was delicious, but sauce should have been a bit thinner as mentioned above.
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