Thursday, October 3, 2019

Leftovers Supreme: Baked Penne and Sausage

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Baked spaghetti and variations thereof are a fun and easy way to use up leftovers.

Baked penne and sausage on a big green egg kamado grill

Tuesday we cooked a few pans of fire-roasted lasagna on the Big Green Egg for the staff at our Knoxville office.  I'll have a full recipe post coming up for the veggie lasagna that we made because it was killer.  


After making the lasagna, we had extra Italian sausage meat sauce and cheese leftover.  Naturally, I thought of making a "baked spaghetti" dish with the leftovers.

Baked penne and sausage baked on a big green egg kamado grill

We had some dry penne in the pantry so I boiled that and mixed it with the meat sauce and a bunch of cheese, probably 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar and Monterey jack.  I topped that off with more cheese and some panko bread crumbs. 



My set up for one of my large Big Green Eggs was indirect heat using a ConvEGGtor, drip pan, and standard grates.  Pro-Tip:  If you are using a pretty enameled casserole dish like this one, spray the outside of it with spray oil (Pam, etc).  This will make the exterior clean up boatloads easier. 

I ran the kamado grill at 350°f.  I was only burning lump coal for fuel because I find wood smoke makes pasta dishes too smoky.  

Everything in it is already cooked and only has to warm through, so cooking time is based on how dark you want the crust.  I could have pulled it here about 40 minutes in but I wanted a darker crust.



I ran mine right about 1 hour.  Then I topped it off with freshly shredded Parmesan cheese.


...and topped it all off with sliced fresh basil.



baked penne and sausage cooked on a big green egg

Yes, leftovers like these aren't bad at all!  It made quite a bit so oops.....our dish to use leftovers up, made leftovers.



That's okay.  We're having leftover leftovers tonight.