Serves 6.
Cooking Time : 3 hours on high
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb italian sausage, removed from it’s casing
2 onions, minced
1 green bell pepper and 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into 1/2″ pieces.
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces ziti
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 15oz can tomato sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 oz)
Directions
- Line slow cooker with aluminum foil collar and coat with vegetable oil spray. Heat oil in large pot over medium-high heat until just smoking. Brown sausage well, breaking up large pieces with a wooden spoon, about 5 minutes. Add onions, bell peppers, garlic, and oregano and cook until vegetables are softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Stir in tomatoes and heavy cream, scraping up any browned bits, and simmer until thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Stir in ziti (uncooked), salt, and pepper.
- Transfer ziti mixture to prepared slow cooker and spread tomato sauce evenly over pasta. Cover and cook until pasta is tender, about 3 hours on high.
- Remove foil collar. Gently stir pasta, adding hot water as needed to loosen sauce consistency. Sprinke with mozzarella, cover, and let sit until melted, about 5 minutes. Serve.
Note: Foil collar on inside of slow cooker is designed to evenly distribute heat and prevent the pasta from being burned.
Note: Use low moisture pre-shredded mozzarella, not fresh mozzarella in a solid block and packed in brine.
Stolen from “Slow Cooker Revolution, page 236, by America’s Test Kitchen.