Baked pasta with Italian sausage, onion and mustard

Oh, pasta...:) We really adore and enjoy eating  it every Friday and baked pasta is cooked pretty often. It`s an easy and delicious way to get a lovely dinner! Join!:)

Ingredients:

Approx. 400 g. pasta (here fusilli);

1 lb. (approx. 400-500 g) Italian sausage;

1 large white sweet onion (chopped finely);

1/3 cup grated cheese;

200-250 ml heavy cream;

2-4 tbsp Dijon mustard;

1-2 tpsp tomato paste;

2 garlic cloves (finely chopped);

Fresh thyme and oregano;

Smoked sweet paprika;

Salt;

Olive oil

1. Bring a large pan of salted water to boil, add the pasta, return to boil and cook until tender but al dente (should be still firm to the bite). Drain and cool a little bit.

2. Meanwhile, in other pan bring water to boil and cook sausage about 8 minutes. Let stand until cold enough and chop finely.

3. Heat the oil in a large skillet, add the onion and fry for 5 minutes until soft (prevent beginning browned), stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook an additional 1 minute. Add sausage, cream, tomato paste, mustard, thyme and oregano, season with salt and paprika. Let simmer gently for 2-3 minutes then remove the skillet from the heat.

4. Mix the cooked pasta with sausage sauce well.

5. Lightly grease a large ovenproof dish with olive oil and pour the mixture into the baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven (190-200C) about 20 minutes then sprinkle the cheese on top and bake additional 5-7 minutes.