Italian Sausage Pasta Casserole

I'm not exactly sure where the first week of December went, but here we are on the 9th with no posts yet! Everything is fine around here, but all the preparations for the holidays take time. I remember that my Mom used to complain that every year it seemed to take longer to do the things that went faster the previous year. Not just holiday prep, but most things. Grocery shopping takes longer, laundry seems to take longer (although that might be because the washing machine and dryer are over thirty years old and so are the pipes...the cold water in particular seems to dribble into the machine. I suspect the pipes are filled up with minerals so less water gets through). Even cooking and baking seem to take longer, so I guess I haven't started as many baking sessions and only a minimum of cooking.

Anyway, time flies by and it's dinner time. What to make? Well, there are a couple of cooked turkey Italian sausages in the fridge, and it doesn't take long to boil water for pasta, nor to make a simple white sauce, nor to crisp up some bread crumbs in melted margarine. Put all that together and you have a cozy casserole, perfect for a chilly, damp night.

The white sauce recipe comes from a classic cook book; the Joy of Cooking. For the pasta I found a half pound of multi-color twisty pasta. Since this casserole only serves 2-3, you don't need any more pasta than that. I served the casserole with steamed green beans and Sweetie was very happy. Hope you will be too, if you try this recipe out. The pasta and sauce are fairly bland, but the sausage lifts the flavors and the crunch of the topping adds texture so that the whole is delightful.

Italian Sausage Pasta Casserole
Serves 2-3 (Double the recipe to serve 4-6)

For the Pasta: 1/2 pound rotini (I used multi-colored, but plain is fine, too)
salt (optional)

For the White Sauce:
2 tablespoons butter (I used margarine), melted
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

For the Bread Crumbs
2 tablespoons butter (I used margarine), melted
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs

2 Italian sausages, cooked, and sliced in 1/4-inch slices

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt if desired. Once the water is boiling, stir in the pasta and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is cooked al dente. Drain pasta and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, make the white sauce: In a medium sauce pan, combine the melted butter and the flour. Cook, over low heat, stirring 3-4 minutes, until well blended and flour has had a chance to cook off the raw taste without browning. Slowly stir in the milk and simmer and stir the sauce with a wire Whisk until it has thickened and is smooth and hot. Whisk in the ricotta cheese until smooth again. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the sauce to keep a skin from forming.

In a small non-stick skillet, combine the melted butter and the bread crumbs. Stir constantly over medium-high heat until the crumbs are slightly browned and a bit crispy. Don't allow to burn.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a casserole dish. In the pot that the pasta was cooked in, combine the drained pasta, the white sauce and the slices of Italian sausage. Pour into the prepared casserole dish, use the back of a spoon to level the filling, then evenly top with the prepared bread crumb mixture. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the crumbs become golden brown. Serve at once while still hot.

Apple Blackberry Crumb Pie

The blackberries have been slow to ripen this year but there are now enough to pick a pint at a time with some left over for popping in your mouth straight from the bush.

The day before he left to visit Natasha, the Captain joined me and we picked a couple of pints of blackberries (see them peeking out from the apple slices?)

plus about 10 ripe Gravenstein apples, then, the next morning we peeled, cored and sliced some of the apples,

lined a pie tin with purchased pie dough, mixed the apple slices with a flour-spice-sugar mixture,

gently stirred in some blackberries, piled the pie high with apple-blackberry mixture,

then topped it with the pre-cooked nutmeg streusel (from the freezer) I used here.


Into a 375 degree oven it went for about 40 minutes. About 10 minutes before it came out of the oven I poured on 1/3 cup apple cider syrup and topped it with heavy foil to keep the topping from burning even more (a bit had gotten too browned for my taste anyway).

The pie looked and smelled wonderful! When it was cool enough, I wrapped it up, leaving the foil on top, for it's ride up the freeway to Natasha and her honey. I hope that they enjoyed it with some whipped cream and will soon let me know if it tasted as good as it looked.

In case you want to make your own, here is the recipe. Gravenstein apples tend to soften and shrink a bit when cooked. If you use apples that retain their shape you may want to not pile the fruit mixture quite so high.

Apple Blackberry Crumb Pie

6 cups peeled, cored and sliced tart apples
1/2 pint fresh blackberries
1 crust pie crust
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or 1/4 teaspoon already grated nutmeg
1/4 cup granulated sugar (or to taste)
2 cups Nutmeg Struesel, baked and crumbled (recipe below)
1/4 cup apple cider syrup (optional)

Make sure that the apple slices have no soft or browned spots. If apples will sit for very long bathe them in a mixture of water and lemon juice, then drain. Pick over the blackberries to remove any that have mould or are too soft.

Fit the pie crust into a 9-inch pie tin and crimp the edges. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix together the flour, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and sugar. Place the apple slices in a large bowl and sprinkle on the spice mixture. Toss with a spoon to coat the apple slices. Add the blackberries and gently stir to distribute them and coat with the spice mixture.

Pile the apple-berry mixture into the prepared pie shell.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

While oven is preheating, top the fruit mixture with the crumbs, starting at the top and cupping with your hands if needed to distribute the crumbs as evenly as possible over the whole pie top.

Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes or until apples are tender. Check about 10 to 15 minutes before pie is done. Cover top with heavy aluminum foil to keep topping and/or crust from burning.

Cool on rack 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm or cooled. Serves 8.

Fresh Nutmeg Streusel
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, cold
½ cup brown sugar
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees while you prepare the streusel. Line a half sheet or jelly roll pan with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Set aside.
In a food processor pulse together all of the streusel ingredients until the mixture clumps. To make without a food processor, chop the nuts finely and use a pastry blender or two knives to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture clumps.
Spread the streusel mixture out on the pan, leaving it in clumps and globs, but breaking them down if bigger than your thumb. Bake in preheated oven for 10 – 15 minutes until golden to medium brown. Remove from oven. Mixture may have spread. Use a small spatula to break the mixture up if pieces have gotten larger than your thumb. Let cool.