Erin and I have been trying to come up with a name for this for the last year and a half. Nothing fits. It is, however, one of the most delicious (and healthy?!) dinners we had during our near-starvation summer, when both of us were spending only $30 a week on food. That meant lots of 88 cent boxes of pasta and 99 cent canned veggies. Desperate. Fucking. Times.
Italian Stuff happened when we just sort of threw everything we like best together and baked it with cheese, because we also like cheese.
half a box of ziti, bowties, or something fun
1 can cannellili beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
1 package italian sausage
about a cup mozzarella
parmesan
1/2 cup italian seasoned bread crumbs
Start boiling water for pasta, and in the meantime cook your sausage in a frying pan with olive oil. I know it’s gross, but use a knife to cut open the casing so you can just dump out the meat-parts. Trust me, it works better this way. Alternatively, use ground beef or turkey and season it liberally with salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. Use a spatula or fork to break up chunks and cook everything all the way through.
Cook and drain pasta according to the directions on box, and mix with olive oil and garlic. Drain tomatoes and cannaneli beans and mix those in with the drained pasta, as well as spinach and meat. Pour all of this into a casserole dish or something else that can go into the oven. Top with mozzarella cheese, then with breadcrumbs and a liberal sprinkle of parmesan.
Depending on the quality of your campus appliances (ours was poor), bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes until you get sick of waiting. You just want the cheese to get bubbly and the breadcrumbs to start browning, and you may want to turn the oven on broil for 2 or 3 minutes to get it there.
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