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I was recently flipping through a copy of Bonappetit and came across a recipe for a Sausage, roasted red pepper, and spinach torta rustica. The title alone made my mouth water so I ripped it out of the magazine, ran to the store for the fresh ingredients and gave it a try. I was not disappointed! It wasn’t that much work to prepare and the flavor combinations were amazing! My husband voted it the best dinner of the year

Sausage, Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach Torta Rustica

• 16 1/4 inch-thick baguette slices, cut on slight diagonal
• 1 Tbs butter
• 12 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casing removed (I used Italian Turkey Sausage)
• 1 1/2 cups grated Fontina cheese, divided (my local store only had a very large,  pricey block of Fontina so I substituted with Smoked Gouda)
• 3/4 cup diced drained roasted red peppers (from 12 ounce jar)
• 6 large eggs
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream (I couldn’t stand adding that many calories so I just used regular milk)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp coarse kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter 8x8x2 inch backing dish. Place 8 baguette slices in bottom of dish; press 2 baguette slices onto each side.

Melt 1 tbs butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add spinach; toss until just wilted, about 3 minutes. Transfer spinach to strainer; cool. Squeeze spinach dry. Transfer to medium bowl.

Heat same pot over medium-high heat. Add sausage. Saute until cooked through. breaking up, about 7 minutes. Mix into spinach; mix in 1 cup cheese and peppers. Spread atop baguette slices in bottom of dish.

Whisk eggs in medium bowl to blend. Whisk in last 4 ingredients. Pour over spinach mixture and stir lightly with fork to distribute evenly. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese over (the Gouda didn’t melt very well on top).

Bake torta until puffed and golden and center is set, about 55 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

What is a Torta Rustica? According to www.cookadvice.com it’s…

A large pie similar to coulibiac, filled with salmon, cabbage or spinach, eggs, and mushrooms. Other versions use meat or sausage in the filling. The crust is usually made of bread dough and sprinkled with salt before using.