Naunie's Pastera (Leftover Easter Pasta Bake)

Don't toss those little amounts of small, uncooked pasta shapes; keep them and make this Italian-style sausage and egg dish when you've saved up a pound. Great for Easter.

• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 2 hr
• Total Time: 2 hr 30 mins
• Calories: 192 Calories

Ingredients

• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil, divided
• ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
• ¼ pound elbow macaroni
• ¼ pound ziti pasta
• ¼ pound farfalle (bow tie) pasta
• ¼ pound radiatore pasta
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage links, cut into 1/2- inch slices
• 12 jumbo eggs, or more if needed
• ½ cup shredded Pecorino Romano cheese, or more if needed

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Grease a 2-quart and a 1 1/2-quart round glass baking dish each with 3/4 teaspoon olive oil; drizzle 1 tablespoon of remaining olive oil into bottom of each baking dish.

Step 2

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook macaroni, ziti, farfalle, and radiatore pasta in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until cooked through but firm to the bite, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain.

Step 3

Arrange sausage slices on foil-lined baking sheet.

Step 4

Bake sausage in the preheated oven until browned and crisp, 30 to 45 minutes. Lower oven heat to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

Step 5

Beat eggs in a large bowl until foamy, using an electric mixer. Add Pecorino-Romano cheese, salt, and black pepper; continue to beat egg mixture with electric mixer on highest speed until eggs and cheese are blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir cooked pasta into eggs and cheese; mixture should be runny and look like pasta is floating in egg mixture. Stir additional beaten eggs and Pecorino-Romano cheese into mixture if more egg mixture is needed.

Step 6

Ladle spoonfuls of egg-pasta mixture into each casserole, followed by a layer of sausage; continue layering pasta mixture and sausage until all sausage has been used. Top casseroles with final layer of pasta mixture. Drizzle top of each casserole with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Small pieces of pasta should stick out of the egg mixture.

Step 7

Bake in the oven until casseroles are set in the center, about 1 hour; raise oven heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue baking until the tops of casseroles are browned and crispy, 1 to 1 1/2 more hours.