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Dracula's Revenge

A baked pasta casserole with roasted garlic, Italian sausage, herbs, and a cheese sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and rosemary match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 465 recipes. Both carry 1,8-cineol, which smells eucalyptus, camphor. The science ↓

Dracula's Revenge

Oven350°F, then 400°F

Ingredients

Directions

Roast the garlic

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. Remove the white papery skin from the garlic heads (do not peel or separate the cloves).

  3. Wrap each garlic head separately in foil.

  4. Bake the wrapped garlic heads at 350°F for 1 hour.

  5. Cool the garlic heads for 10 minutes.

  6. Separate the cloves from the heads. Squeeze the cloves to extract the garlic pulp. Discard the skins and set the garlic pulp aside.

Brown the sausage

  1. Increase the oven temperature to 400°F.

  2. Remove the casings from the sausage. Cook the sausage in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and place it in a large bowl.

  3. Stir in the sage and rosemary.

Make the cheese sauce

  1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Lightly spoon the flour into a dry measuring cup and level it with a knife. Add the flour to the melted butter, stirring with a whisk.

  3. Gradually add the milk, cooking until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk (about 10 minutes).

  4. Stir in the roasted garlic, cheeses, salt, and pepper. Remove the cheese sauce mixture from the heat.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add 5 1/2 cups of the cheese sauce and the cooked pasta to the sausage, stirring to coat. Spoon the pasta mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.

  2. Top the pasta mixture with the remaining cheese sauce.

  3. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1567Calories
105 gProtein
55 gFat
156 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Pork100g cooked242
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Chicken100g cooked165
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Swiss Cheese1 oz (28g)108
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Rosemary1 tsp dried (1.2g)4
Sage1 tsp ground (0.7g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Sage + rosemarytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together465 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1,8-cineol (eucalyptus, camphor).

  2. Garlic + rosemarytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,180 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Garlic + sagetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,025 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Garlic
Roasting turns the cloves soft and sweet, giving the sauce a mellow garlic flavor.
Sausage
Browned crumbled sausage adds savory meaty flavor and fat to the pasta.
All-purpose flour
Flour cooked with butter forms a roux that thickens the milk into a smooth sauce.
Milk
Milk forms the body of the cheese sauce, providing moisture and creaminess.
Parmesan and gruyère or swiss cheese
Melted cheeses add salty, nutty flavor and a smooth, stretchy texture to the sauce.
Penne or rigatoni
Tube-shaped pasta holds the sauce and sausage in its hollows, giving a hearty bake.

The step that matters

Cooking the milk and flour sauce. Stirring constantly while the milk thickens keeps the flour from clumping into lumps. Cooking it until slightly thick ensures the starch is activated, so the sauce holds together when baked.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, sage, rosemary, butter, flour, milk, parmesan cheese):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, sage, rosemary, butter, flour, milk, parmesan cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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