Ricotta Sausage Bake

Time Warp: This post was written prior to my week of cooking alone, but I didn't have the camera with photos on it, so this is like a trip back in time. By a week. Thats kind of cool if you don't think about it for too long.

Since we got the Slow Cooker, we've tried cooking various things in it. One of the less successful of these attempts was devilled sausages. Its not that they weren't nice, its just that there seemed to be no benefit to doing them in the crock pot. So when we had sausages come up on the menu again, I decided I'd head back to the old-fashioned way of cooking up good old bangers, and then altered it somewhat.

What I really liked about this meal was that I found a use for my Top Secret Pizza Sauce. We were towards the end of the week, and having missed out on the market the weekend before due to the whole family being sick, it was slim pickings in the veges department. So I whisked up a tomato sauce, fleshing it out with a dose of the famous aforementioned Sauce, boiled and then grilled the sausages and layered them together in the oven with the sauce, some cheese, and what was left of the Ricotta from the Bacon and Leek extravaganza. In the end, it was just bangers with cheese and pasta sauce, but it was good.

Ricotta Sausage Bake

Heat some olive oil in a pan and add 3 sliced garlic cloves, one chopped onion and 3 diced tomatoes. Mix well and add 4T of Top Secret Pizza Sauce. Allow to simmer and thicken. Season to taste with freshly ground salt and pepper.
Boil up a tray of sausages for about 10 minutes. This is both to precook the meat and to knock out some of the fat that sausages are notorious for. Pull the sausages out into a shallow oven dish, score on all sides and place under a hot grill, turning as each side browns.
Boil up a pot of your favourite pasta.

Drain the fat from the sausage dish and spoon the Tomato and Onion Sauce over and around the sausages. Place tablespoons of Ricotta around the sausages and grate cheddar cheese over the dish. Place back under the grill and allow the cheese to brown. Steam up some greens to go with the Sausages. When you dish, take care to keep the clumps of Ricotta intact.