10-12 Minute Pasta Bake

Summer is coming to a close, and with it goes the glorious evening light -- magic dinner hour --- that made some of these photos, if not exactly ones I am proud of, at least ones I'm not ashamed of. With September comes earlier sunsets and dinner pictures showing the dimly lit tungsten glow (or gasp -- a flash) of my nearly winter kitchen lights. But I digress, back to dinner.

This isn't 10-12 Minute Pasta Bake because it takes 10-12 minutes to cook, or stir together the sauce, or bake, or even eat. In one of my more Women's Day moments I started a little fall cleaning on my kitchen shelves and gathered up the odds and ends of pasta. Tonight I used all of the ones with a 10-12 minute cooking time (hence the name). Squid ink colored pasta rings (calamarata al nero di seppia), whole wheat penne, and a couple strands of bucatini -- some shapes His Highness would likely vaguely sneer at if just sauced on a plate but, when baked together with homegrown eggplant, browned sausage, leftover tomato sauce and shredded bits of mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan cheeses left in the fridge . . . he was going back for fourths.

From dinner diva to casserole cook in one easy fall.