Sunday, December 14, 2008

Dracula's Revenge (Baked Penne with Sausage and Garlic)

I want to say I really liked this... but I can't. First I made it. I started at 3:30. At 5:40 I was finally done. It wasn't hard, just a lot to do. I also added spinach and mushrooms into this.

The garlic... I used 3 heads. I didn't fully understand what I was supposed to do but I roasted it and then squirted all the pulp into a bowl. That was a PITA because even after 20 minutes, the garlic was still hot.
After I made everything and baked it, I ate some. I thought it was bland. 3 HEADS of garlic and I don't taste it. WTH? So if this were easier, I probably would have like it, but all the work for something bland...eh.

Update: It is much better the next day when the ingredients can meld together. I could taste all the flavors and liked them. But definitely a weekend dish due to the time.

Dracula's Revenge (Baked Penne with Sausage and Garlic)


2 whole garlic heads
1 pound sweet turkey Italian sausage (used regular hot Italian Sausage)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
8 cups hot cooked penne (about 1 pound uncooked tube-shaped pasta) or rigatoni
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Remove white papery skin from garlic heads (do not peel or separate the cloves). Wrap each head separately in foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; cool 10 minutes. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins. Set garlic aside.

Increase oven temperature to 400°.

Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Place sausage in a large bowl; stir in sage and rosemary.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Add the flour to melted butter, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add the milk; cook until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk (about 10 minutes). Stir in roasted garlic, cheeses, salt, and pepper. Remove mixture from heat. Add 5 1/2 cups cheese sauce and cooked pasta to sausage, stirring to coat. Spoon pasta mixture in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with remaining sauce. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.



Yield: 10 servings

CALORIES 434 (30% from fat); FAT 14.4g (sat 7.2g,mono 4.5g,poly 2g); IRON 3mg; CHOLESTEROL 57mg; CALCIUM 425mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.7g; SODIUM 700mg; PROTEIN 26.3g; FIBER 1.4g

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2000

3 comments:

  1. I am going to try it with turkey italian see how it goes, but less garlic geez no wonder the name.

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  2. Giada has a recipe similar to this that we LOVE (broccoli rabe with sausage and pasta). Less garlic and I use regular sausage. I have never had turkey sausage, but from having had the other recipe a lot and knowing how full of flavor it is, I can only imagine that your healthy part (turkey sausage) is the reason for the blandness. Might I suggest you harden some arteries? LOL

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  3. Meh, I like turkey sausage just as much as regular and just because it's turkey doesn't mean it's bland. Sometimes it has more flavor.

    Roasted garlic is not as pungent in flavor as regular. I would probably ass some minced garlic to the mix before you bake it??

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