Ingredients
- 1/2 lb. sweet Italian pork or turkey sausage, removed from it’s casing and crumbled
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1 quart your favorite marinara sauce
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 14 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 lb rigatoni
- 1/2 lb cauliflower cut into 1 inch florets (about 3 cups)
- 5 roma tomatoes, cut into 1/4-inch dice
- 1 cup grated fontina cheese
- 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Bring a large pot of well salted water to a boil. Grease a 9 x 13 pan with 1 tablespoon butter; set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add diced onion and crumbled sausage and cook until sausage starts to brown and is cooked through. Add garlic and cook 1-2 minutes more. Drain of any excess fat. Add red wine to pan and let boil until it’s almost gone. Add marinara and bring sauce to simmer. Turn heat to low and then add cream and basil. Just heat sauce through and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
- Meanwhile, when the water comes to a boil, cook the rigatoni just until al dente, about 10 minutes. Drain the pasta with a slotted spoon, leaving the water in the pot. Transfer pasta to a large bowl. Return water to a boil and add cauliflower. Cook just until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain and add to the pasta.
- To the pasta and cauliflower, add the diced tomatoes, fontina and mozzarella cheese and the tomato-sausage sauce. Mix thoroughly before transferring pasta mixture to buttered dish. Top pasta with the parmesan cheese.
- Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted. Let the pasta rest for 10 minutes before serving.