Mami Emma's Macaroni (Lightened up)

Two Cuban Grandmothers.  Decades of competition.  Who wins the cooking contest?  Mama Fina's food or Mami Emma's food?  I'll never tell!

So here is a little dish that we just call "Macaroni" in my family.  This is my Abuela Emma's recipe.  Well, almost.  I've lightened it up a little by adding more tomato sauce and much less butter.  Seriously, this is one your family will LOVE.

Ingredients:
(Serves 6)

1 ham steak, diced (the single 1/2 inch slice pre-packaged kind works just fine)
1 link of chorizo sausage, diced (you can also substitute with pepperoni)
1/2 onion, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves, minced

15 oz. can of tomato sauce
16 oz. box of penne pasta
8 oz. low moisture, skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 tbsp. of butter
1 bay leaf

(Nutrition facts: 457 cal., 17.4 g fat, 49g carbs, 26g protein, 1.6g fiber)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sized pot, boil water and cook penne according to the package directions.  You will want your pasta al dente as it will continue to cook a little in the oven later.  When it is done, drain your pasta and set it aside.

While the pasta is cooking, over medium heat, cook the chorizo in a small skillet (about 3-4 minutes).  Line a few paper towels over a plate and pour the chorizo over it.  You want to remove as much of the fat as possible. Abuela doesn't do this, but again I've lightened this up a little, so I added this step.

In a large saute pan add butter, onions and garlic over medium heat and cook until the onions are a little soft and translucent in color.  Then add 3/4 of the can of tomato sauce and the bay leaf.  Let these flavors combine for a few minutes.

Add diced ham and drained chorizo sausage and cook for about 7 minutes on medium low heat.

 
While you're waiting for the ham to cook and for all those flavors to combine, this is a good time to shred your mozzarella.  Plus, I just wanted to show off this cool picture of inside my cheese grater.

Once your sauce has simmered, go ahead and mix in your pasta.

Add to a greased 9x13 in. greased casserole dish (I use PAM).  If you find that your pasta is sticking together from sitting out, run a little warm water over it.  It will magically un-stick!  Sprinkle the cheese over the top and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Mmmm...now doesn't this look yummy?  Like I wanna go into the fridge and eat some of it right now.  Without even heating it up.  Sigh.  Good thing Stephen took the left-overs for lunch today. Dang!