Make it Italian night with this quick and easy dinner idea for the whole family on a cold evening.
By Laraine Perri
The sausage-mushroom mixture can be made a day ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container. Rewarm over low heat before combining with the pasta.
Mark Boughton/styling: Teresa Blackburn
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (divided)
- 12 ounces sweet Italian sausage (casings removed)
- 1 pound cremini mushrooms (trimmed, and quartered)
- 1/2 cup sliced shallots
- 4 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
- 1/3 cup dry white wine or reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt (divided)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups 2 percent reduced-fat milk
- 1 pound rigatoni
- 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes with purée
- 6 ounces Italian fontina (shredded)
- 6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Instructions
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat; add sausage. Sauté, breaking up meat until no longer pink and beginning to brown. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon; pour off drippings, leaving behind brown bits. Add remaining oil and mushrooms to pan. Sauté until mushrooms begin to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add shallots; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in garlic and rosemary; sauté 1 minute more. Add wine, increase heat to medium-high, and cook until wine is nearly evaporated. Season with ¾ teaspoon salt and pepper. Return sausage to pan and stir to combine.
- Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly oil a 13 x 9-inch baking dish.
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour; cook until foaming but not colored, about 2 minutes. Whisk in milk; bring to a simmer. Cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with remaining ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Cook rigatoni according to package directions, undercooking it by 3 minutes. Drain; return to pot. Add sausage mixture to pasta; toss well. Add béchamel and crushed tomatoes; stir to combine. Stir in fontina and 2 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano.
- Transfer pasta mixture to baking dish. Sprinkle remaining Parmigiano Reggiano over top; cover with foil. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 10 minutes more. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
This article was originally posted as, “Baked Pasta with Sausage, Mushrooms and Fontina” on Relish.
