Another Mama Moment

Today's recipe: Dracula's Revenge (Baked Penne with Sausage and Garlic)

Today is a bittersweet mothering day. Both Lily Ruth and I are congested to the gills. She has not wanted to do ANYTHING that doesn't involve me. I have just wanted to crawl under a rock (by myself) and hang out there until my head clears.

We've settled for cranky nursing

And restless napping

I'm venting, not complaining. How could I resent someone who loves me so intensely that all she wants when she feels crummy is me? I can't. I don't. I just REALLY wish that I had a staff so that somebody else could go start dinner while my baby snores green bubbles and reaches for me...

Oh, and it's going to be a GREAT dinner :-) One of my favorite recipes of all time! Dracula's Revenge came into my life from Cooking Light. I would swear that my mom has been making this since I lived at home, but Cooking Light swears that it appeared in October of 2000... potato, po-tah-to... it's still great. Tonight, I will be halving the pasta and the sauce, but keeping the garlic and sausage at their original levels... it's just that I don't have 6 cups of milk, and I'm NOT leaving the house for more (also, I don't actually need 10 servings - 5 will be more than enough ;-) ) Oh, and all of the reviews suggest upping the flour to 1/2 cup in order to make the sauce thicker/richer. Since I always thought that it should be thicker, I am thrilled to make the adjustment.

Dracula's Revenge (Baked Penne with Sausage and Garlic)
Yield:  10 servings

2 whole garlic heads
1 pound sweet turkey Italian sausage
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried sage
1 teaspoon chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
2 tablespoons butter or stick margarine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 cups 1% low-fat milk
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2/3 cup (about 2 1/2 ounces) shredded Gruyère or Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
8 cups hot cooked penne (about 1 pound uncooked tube-shaped pasta) or rigatoni
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Remove white papery skin from garlic heads (do not peel or separate the cloves). Wrap each head separately in foil. Bake at 350° for 1 hour; cool 10 minutes. Separate cloves; squeeze to extract garlic pulp. Discard skins. Set garlic aside.

Increase oven temperature to 400°.

Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Place sausage in a large bowl; stir in sage and rosemary.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Add the flour to melted butter, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add the milk; cook until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk (about 10 minutes). Stir in roasted garlic, cheeses, salt, and pepper. Remove mixture from heat. Add 5 1/2 cups cheese sauce and cooked pasta to sausage, stirring to coat. Spoon pasta mixture in a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with remaining sauce. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated

CALORIES 434 (30% from fat); FAT 14.4g (sat 7.2g,mono 4.5g,poly 2g); IRON 3mg; CHOLESTEROL 57mg; CALCIUM 425mg; CARBOHYDRATE 48.7g; SODIUM 700mg; PROTEIN 26.3g; FIBER 1.4g 

Cooking Light, OCTOBER 2000