When we invited some friends to dinner on Sunday, I had no idea what to do for dinner. They were kind enough to bring a delicious appetizer of crackers, brie and apricot jam, but by the time they arrived I still wasn’t entirely sure what I was making, even though I had the water boiling for the pasta that I knew was going to be involved and was sautéing the tomatoes, onions and garlic. With the addition of some pre-cooked all-beef Italian sausage I bought from the discount meat bin for 99¢ for a package of four (STEAL!), some leftover provolone cheese and a jar of sauce we had a delicious and simple baked pasta.

The whole meal, which fed six and left plenty of leftovers, used about $6 in ingredients.

QUICK TIPS:
* Cook the pasta to a chewy al-dente before putting in the oven
* Make with a warm sauce to reduce baking time
* Put under the broiler for about 10 minutes

More detailed instructions follow

Making a simple baked pasta really happens in a couple easy steps. Here I’ve broken it down.

PASTA STEPS:
Cook a 1 lb box of shapes pasta (I used the trumpet-looking shells from Aldi) in salted water until not-quite-al dente. There should be a very slight crunch to it. I’ve found that cooking a pasta that usually takes 8 minutes for 6 minutes (for example) works pretty well. Drain, don’t rinse.

SAUCE STEPS:
Sauté 2 fresh tomatoes (I used orange tomatoes, but roma tomatoes would be good too), 3 cloves of garlic (chopped), and half an onion (chopped) in olive oil. I also added some fresh basil, dried oregano, a bit of freshly grated nutmeg and some fresh ground pepper. Let some of the water cook out of the tomatoes, then add one full jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce to the mixture and combine it. Slice up 4 cooked Italian sausages (or brown, spice and drain some ground beef or chicken) and mix up with the sauce.

COMBINING STEP:
Preheat the oven to 425º. I like using the broiler setting on my oven, but you can do a regular bake too.

In a large casserole dish, combine pasta, sauce, sausages and some grated italian cheese of your choice. I probably used about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of provolone. Mix it all up until well-coated, then top with a bit more cheese. I grated a little more nutmeg and pepper on the top.

Bake about 10-15 minutes and serve!