I often think that Italian food, like Mexican food, is all the same ingredients, just in different shapes. I am okay with that. It’s all meaty, cheesy goodness presented with varying delivery vehicles — hard or soft tortillas, or an array of noodle shapes.

Of course what I am talking about is a very Americanized version of both cuisines, as opposed to the fare at Genovese or 715 — where the Italian food is heavy on fresh ingredients and light on saucy pasta and meatballs.

I’ll take it either way — the fresh “authentic” way, or the bastardized American way. I can’t turn down a spicy meatball, a load of provolone, or a good lasagna.

Given the bit of “winter activity” we had over Christmas, and the exhaustion that comes after the three Christmases we attended, snow be damned, I was prepared to spend some quality time in the house on Sunday. As in, I’m not getting out of my PJ’s all day and you can’t make me. I needed to make a dinner last night out of ingredients I had on hand. Thankfully, I always have the stuff for Sunday gravy around, and some bits of the other things you need for Italian food (read: meat, noodles, and cheese). A little easy to make, no-fuss comfort food was not far away.

I whipped up a double batch of Sunday gravy and then set to clearing out the fridge and freezer for whatever other ingredients I could toss into the mix.

Megan’s Pajama Pasta

1 pkg hot italian sausage links (you can get good stuff at Checker’s)
1 box penne pasta (or whatever pasta you have laying around)
3 C Sunday gravy
4 slices provolone
1 block cream cheese
1/2 stick butter
2-3 C shredded mozzarella

Step 1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put your sausage links in a hot skillet to brown. I put a little olive oil in the bottom just to make sure the casings got brown and didn’t stick. You’ll need to cook them for 5 minutes or so on each side. Don’t worry if they’re still a tiny bit pink in the center because they’re going into the oven later and can finish off there.

Step 2) While your sausages are cooking, put a pot of water on to boil and throw in a tablespoon or so of kosher salt. Boil the whole box of pasta.

Step 3) Drain the pasta and put it back over low heat. Add 4 T butter and the block of cream cheese, and stir it around until everything is melted and evenly covering the pasta.

Step 4) Toss the pasta into the largest, deepest baking dish you have. Then cover it with a thick layer of Sunday gravy. I kind of stirred mine into the top of the pasta to ensure that it would not just be a standing mess.

Step 5) Slice your sausages about 1/3 inch thick and make a layer of slices all over the top of the sauce. Then lay on the slices of provolone and cover all that with the mozzarella.

Step 6) Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese melts and gets a little brown around the edges.

The great thing about this is that you can use whatever you have on hand. You don’t have sausage? Brown some ground beef. You don’t have penne? Use spaghetti or rigatoni or a little bit of each. No cream cheese? Use cottage cheese. Whatever combination works. The key is to not overcook your pasta, and to have a great red sauce to flavor up your dish.

Since I made a huge batch of Sunday gravy, I was able to freeze the rest in varying sizes of tupperware. Now we can pull out enough for a pasta for one dish, or another big mess o’ cheesy goodness anytime we want.

Mr. Meat and Potatoes offered to go out and get garlic bread, but it wasn’t worth the foray into the cold and snow, so I improvised. I had some frozen Rhodes dough dinner rolls in the freezer, and I decided just to make that work.

Easy Cheesy Garlic Rolls

6 frozen Rhodes dough dinner rolls
1/2 stick butter
kosher salt
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/4 C shaved parmesan, romano, or asiago cheese
cooking spray

Step 1) If you are smart, you will take these out of the freezer in the morning to let them thaw and rise. I am not smart, so I nuked mine for about 30 seconds to thaw them. Worked great.

Step 2) Get out your cast iron skillet and grease the bottom good with cooking spray and/or butter.

Step 3) Evenly space the rolls (you could do more in there if you have more people coming for dinner) in the pan, and cover them to rise for several hours. I think I let mine rise for 3.

Step 4) When you are ready to cook them (after your pasta is done), heat the oven to 415 degrees. Melt 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave, and then add a healthy dash of salt to it. Add the garlic to the melted butter and brush it on with a pastry brush, or, in my case, an old paint brush from some kid’s craft kit. Then sprinkle the cheese over the top.

Step 5) Cook for 15 minutes or until the tops are nice and lightly golden.

Another thing to think about: it might be a good idea to stay in this New Year’s Eve, what with the amateur night behavior and all that. So make up a big batch of pasta and have a pajama party at your house. Lock yourselves in with your new Christmas games and party like it’s 1999.