Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage

from ourbestbites.com

1 pound Italian sausage or Italian turkey sausage (“hot” or “sweet”)
1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed (about 2 tablespoons)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt
3 cups water
12 ounces (about 3 3/4 cups) ziti pasta
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves (fresh is best, but if you need to sub dried, use a heaping tablespoon of dried basil and add it in with the tomatoes)
ground black pepper
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (1 cup)

Note: This recipe is to be cooked in a 12 inch skillet.  I recommend using one slightly larger if you’re adding the sausage as well.  Make sure your skillet is oven proof (no plastic handles) and has a lid.

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 475 degrees.  Pulse the tomatoes with their juice in a food processor until coarsely ground and no large pieces remain, about 12 pulses.

Remove sausage from casings and cook, crumbling with a spatula until browned and cooked through, about 3-5 minutes.  Heat 12-inch or larger oven-safe skillet to medium high heat and add 1/2 tablespoon olive oil.  (If you’re not using sausage, just add a little more olive oil and start with the next step, sautéing the garlic and pepper flakes.)  

Add garlic and red pepper flakes to sausage and cook for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.   Stir in the processed tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the water, then add the pasta.  Cover, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring often and adjusting the heat to maintain a vigorous simmer, until the pasta is tender, 15-18 minutes.

Stir in the cream, Parmesan, and basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the top.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the cheese has melted and browned, about 8-10 minutes (or just until melted, like, 1-2 minutes).  Serve.

I recommend dumping everything into an oven safe dish and cooking it in there, instead of in the pan.  Or you could do that but be very very careful not to think the handles are cool or you might burn yourself when you take it out of the oven or are serving this. Just saying!  

I don't like ground turkey.  I have never found a version of ground turkey or a recipe with it I could like.  Until now!  I used the Italian sweet turkey sausage and it was actually good in this recipe!  I love using fresh basil. Don't substitute the dry basil in this recipe.  Fresh basil and tomatoes are a match made in heaven!

Also, my store didn't have ziti so if you run into that pick a pasta with some texture to help hold onto the sauce.

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