Baked Pasta With Sausage and Baby Portobello Mushroom White Sauce

Difficulty (Scale from 1-10): 6

Makes 1 pound of pasta (serves 6-8)

Ingredients

1 pound dried penne pasta
1 pound of sweet Italian sausage taken out of it's casing
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 pound of baby Portobello mushrooms sliced
3 cloves of fresh garlic - pressed
1 1/2 cups of heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon rounded of salt
1/4 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese - grated
8 oz of whole milk mozzarella cheese - shredded

1) Cook Pasta in a salted boiling pot of water until al dente; drain pasta & transfer to a large bowl, put aside a 3 quart flame proof casserole dish, for the baking process.
2) Preheat broiler
3) Cook sausage in one tablespoon of olive oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium-high heat. Stirring occasionally to prevent sticking/burning while breaking up and large pieces of sausage, until no longer pink. Transfer sausage to a bowl leaving behind the fat in the skillet.
4) Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the already existing fat in the skillet. Add pressed garlic and mushrooms to the skillet over medium-high heat until mushrooms are cooked (do not over-cook - garlic should not burn), garlic should not get darker than golden brown. Cook time should be 5 - 7 minutes.
5) Return sausage to skillet along with heavy cream along with salt & pepper. Boil over medium-high heat until thickened, about 5-6 minutes. Pour over pasta (in large bowl) and mix in parmesan and 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese. Salt to taste.
6) Pour into casserole/baking dish and top with remaining mozzarella cheese.
7) Broil 3-4 inches from broiler until golden brown in spots, about 5-7 mins.

Remove from oven and enjoy your meal.

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