Italian Style Chicken Sausage with Roast Vegetables and Rigatoni
I wish you could taste how good this dish is! But since you can’t, you’re going to have to take my word for it.
This baked dinner came about as a result of having roast vegetables left over from when I made the Roast Vegetable Subs. It’s everything I love in a meal and it’s all ready in about an hour.
I used spicy chicken sausage to give it a little kick, but if you want it to be milder, simply swap it for sweet Italian sausage. The pasta I used is a large size rigatoni and I chose it so it would be compatible with the chunks of roasted vegetables. For sauce I used a small jar of prepared pizza sauce mixed with a can of diced tomatoes with garlic and oregano. Grated Italian blend cheese sprinkled on at the end of baking time gave it a nice melty topping. We added more grated cheese at the table. There wasn’t much conversation going on at this meal; all we kept saying was “MmmmmMm, Wow, this is So good”!!
If you’d like to Wow your family, here’s the recipe……
ITALIAN STYLE CHICKEN SAUSAGE WITH ROAST VEGETABLES (and Rigatoni)
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients:
- 2-3 cups roast mixed vegetables (refer to Roast Vegetable Subs for directions)
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- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 12 ounces uncooked rigatoni
- 1 jar (15-oz.) pizza sauce
- 1 can (14.5-oz) diced tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
- 1 package (12-oz) Italian style Chicken Sausage, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1/2 cup shredded Italian blend cheese, plus more for the table
Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and keep warm in the pot.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil and sauté the chicken sausage just to brown a little; add the roast vegetables and stir to combine.
Saute sausage with roast vegetables.
Add the pizza sauce and tomatoes with their juice. Heat the mixture thoroughly.
Add pizza sauce and tomatoes.
3. Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray a large baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Pour the sausage mixture over the cooked pasta and stir well to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking dish and cover with foil.
Transfer to baking dish and cover with foil.
Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly.
5. Uncover and sprinkle with the cheese.
Sprinkle with grated cheese.
Bake uncovered, an additional 5 minutes until cheese is melted.
Comfort food….Yes!
