Two years ago when I hosted an impromptu Super Bowl party, I made a super easy, super delicious do-ahead pasta dish. Since then I’ve made it many times, with just about all of our different flavors of pasta and it turns out great every time.

Al Dente Super Pasta Bake

6 very generous portions

12 oz. al dente pasta®

1 jar Monique’s Pasta Sauce (any flavor, but I used Roasted Garlic)

12 oz. fully cooked Italian Sausage, sliced

1/2 cup of water

8 oz. smoked mozzarella, shredded.

1/2 cup Parmesan, grated

1 tsp. salt

Very Specific Directions

( even a beginner cook can make this dish)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add al dente pasta and boil for just 2 minutes.  (It will be slightly undercooked)   Drain the pasta.   Open jar of Monique’s Pasta Sauce.  Put the sauce into the pot in which you cooked the pasta.  Put 1/2 cup of water into the empty sauce jar, swish around so that you can get every last drop of sauce and then pour into pot.  Add sausage, pasta and salt and mix to combine.  Oil your baking dish.  Put 1/2 of the pasta mixture in the baking dish.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the mozzarella and 1/2 of the Parmesan over the pasta.  Add the rest of the pasta and top with the remainder of the cheese.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes, until golden.

notes:  I used smoked mozzarella, but regular mozzarella works just fine.  Recipe can be easily doubled to feed a crowd.

This year, I plan on using our SUPER BIG Pappardelle Pasta which we recently introduced.

In this photo, all that I did was add a little cream cheese to my Roasted Garlic sauce and turned it instantly creamy. So, if you don’t want to make a baked dish, then this is another of my favorite ways to serve Pappardelle.