Recipe of the day: Meat lovers baked pasta

Spend your Friday evening indoors with your loved ones enjoying this mouthwatering meat lovers baked pasta dish.

This yummy pasta dish can be enjoyed all on its own, or with a small portion of your favourite fresh green salad.

Double the ingredients to ensure that you have some left overs to enjoy for lunch tomorrow.

Meat lovers baked pasta

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• Pinch crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 cans plum tomatoes, crushed by hand
• 4 large fresh basil sprigs
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 500g rigatoni
• 1/2 cup diced ham
• 1/4 cup chopped pepperoni
• 1/4 cup chopped crisp cooked bacon
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella
• 1 cup grated parmesan

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 232 degrees C. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until the garlic is golden, about 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and 1 cup of water. Increase the heat to medium high and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat slightly, add the basil sprigs and simmer rapidly, uncovered, until thickened, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard the basil and season with salt and pepper.
3. While the sauce simmers, heat the remaining tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking up any clumps with a wooden spoon, until brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a large bowl with a slotted spoon.
4. Cook the rigatoni in the boiling water until very al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package directions. Drain the pasta and add it to the bowl.
5. Add the tomato sauce, ham, pepperoni, bacon, half of the mozzarella and half of the parmesan to the bowl and stir well to combine. Transfer the pasta to a 3 to 4-quart baking dish and top with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, until browned, about 15 minutes. Let the pasta stand about 10 minutes before serving.

This recipe was found on foodnetwork.com