Low-effort baked pasta

This low-effort dish started with watching an Adam Ragusea video about baked pasta dishes not needing pre-boiling, and… I decided to just roll with it. I’m not sure what volume of meat I want, and I may substitute that with beans, especially par-boiled ones that I’ve pulled at a shorter time; this also has the space to get a bit of an adjustment towards a vodka sauce.

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion or 2 shallots, cubed to diced
• garlic cloves, smashed & minced
• red bell pepper
• italian sausage (sweet or hot, unsure yet)
• half a bag of spinach
• 22oz can crushed tomatoes
• ½lb pasta; something large (see Notes)
• 6oz mozzarella cubed
• ½cup ricotta, divided
• salt (more than expected, for the pasta)
• italian seasoning
• water to cover, more on this in preparation

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F, with a rack in the middle. Chop vegetables, then heat a dutch oven over medium heat. Add a splash of olive oil.
2. Brown up sausage, add onions & bell peppers, then kill the heat.
3. Add the spinach, pasta, and canned tomatoes, then stir to mix and diffuse the heat before adding the mozzarella. Add the mozzarella, garlic, salt, and herbs, stir, then pour in some water to almost bring the liquids over the other ingredients, then add the ricotta.
4. Place uncovered in the oven, bake an hour or until the sauce has combined sufficiently.

Notes

I’ve now tried this dish with rotini, and I don’t think they worked out. I’m going to try it next with some sort of shells, and probably less meat than this previous attempt.