Perfect Pasta

My first Cooks Club Challenge recipe for a while, but it seemed so easy I thought I could jump back in with this, no problems.

Here is the recipe as copied from the forum.

PERFECT PASTA
1 onion
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
400g tinned tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato puree
salt and pepper
pinch of sugar
340g rigatoni or penne
450g favourite sausages
30g bread
30g cheddar cheese

1. Set the oven. Peel the onion and chop finely. Peel the garlic and crush it or chop it finely. Heat the oil in a frying pan.
2. Cook the onion with garlic over a low heat until soft, then add the tinned tomatoes and tomato puree and stir well.
3. Let the pasta sauce simmer over a low heat for about 10 minutes. Then season it with salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar.
4. Boil some salted water in a saucepan. Add the pasta, cook it for about 12 minutes until just soft, then drain it in a colander.
5. Meanwhile, turn on the grill. Prick the sausages with a fork, then grill them on all sides for about 10-12 minutes until brown.
6. Remove the sausages from the grill, leave them until they are cool enough to handle, then cut them into chunky slices.
7. Grate the cheese for the topping. Grate the bread into breadcrumbs, or else make the breadcrumbs in a food processor.
8. Stir the cooked pasta and sliced sausages into the tomato sauce, then spoon the mixture into a baking dish.
9. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs and grated cheese over the pasta. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until the topping is crisp.

After going out for a very last minute shop, I wasn't very impressed with myself to come home and find what I thought were onions in the cupboard were actually lemons. So I had to skip the onion, but I replaced it with a slice of finely chopped slice of bacon. I used pre-made breadcrumbs, and pre-grated cheese, and the sausages I bought were Chicken, Cheese and Garlic ones from Safeway. Also, the tomato paste I used was one of those flavoured ones, with basil and oregano in it.

I was trying to save myself some washing up, so I used the fry pan instead of the grill to cook my sausages, but forgot to prick them, so all the filling oozed out all over the pan. In the end I gave up on chunky sausage slices and resigned myself to lumpy chicken mince pieces. Still tasted good though, even though the top of mine didn't go crispy, just sort of cheesy with breadcrumb-y bits.

It was nice enough, but I don't think we'd make this again. We are not a huge fan of sausages in this household, as almost all that you can buy are too fatty for DP and my tastes (the kids don't care) and DP won't eat kangaroo, so that cuts out the only truely non-fatty sausage type I know of. Still, it was very easy, and perhaps with a few modifications I might make it again, perhaps with leftover bbq chook or something.

On a lighter note, here is Master One-Month-Old:

OMG! I'm Cute!