Cheesy Burrata Pasta Bake

If you have followed me for a while, you know that I'm a huge fan of Burrata cheese.  Don't know what that is?  You can read my post, "Burrata: 101 - What Is This Cheese All About?" here.  I was SUPER excited to find some at my local Safeway earlier this week - I made this Cheesy Burrata Pasta Bake that night for dinner!

What's even better is that I had this jar of Home Grown Garden Tomatoes Puréed with Garlic and Herbs from Leisure Cooking as a base for my sauce. I then puréed the contents of a 28 oz. can of San Marzano Tomatoes, added the base, and then cooked down a bit prior to using it as my sauce. It was delicious. What's extra cool about this? My brother Scott, of Leisure Cooking, grew the tomatoes for the base in his garden that he maintains in memory of our dad.

  If you are your local Safeway, look in the specialty cheese bin for the Burrata - it will look like this:

Once this dish was ready, I paired it with some sautéed squash and an arugula salad topped with shaved Parmesan and Extra Virgin Olive Oil and White Balsamic Vinegar from the Queen Creek Olive Mill - added a little salt and pepper, perfecto!

Cheesy Burrata Pasta Bake
Serves 4

2 links sweet Italian turkey sausage
1/2 cup chopped bell peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups of dry shell pasta
4 oz. Burrata cheese, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tablespoon butter
1 - 1 1/2 cups marinara sauce
1/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
Salt & pepper
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add pasta and cook according to package directions. While the pasta is cooking, remove sausage from casings and cook in a sauté pan over medium heat, crumbling as you go, until browned. Drain on a paper towel.

Add the bell peppers, garlic, and salt/pepper (to taste) to the sauté pan (add extra-virgin olive oil if pan is dry).  Sauté for 5-7 minutes.

Once the pasta is done, drain and rinse with cold water.  In a large bowl, combine the sausage, bell pepper mixture, pasta, sauce, and cheese - mix gently.  I used less sauce because my boys aren't fans of too much sauce - add more if you'd like!  Grease the bottom and sides of a baking dish with butter and add the pasta mixture.  Top with bread crumbs.

Bake 10-15 minutes until heated all of the way through and the cheese has melted.  Serve with Parmesan to top.

Note:  You can prepare this ahead of time, but either put in oven while it pre-heats or allow for longer time in the oven.