Italian Sausage Pasta Bake and Pompeian Olive Oil Review!

There are a few items that I am never without. One of those is olive oil. I use olive oil in everything. I cook with it. I bake with it and I use it in salad dressings and on bread. One of my favorite brands is Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

Pompeian is committed to freshness from harvest to table ensuring that only the finest olives are selected. Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil is extremely low in acidity, which accounts for its robust taste and heady fragrance. It is a good and affordable olive that is great for every day cooking.

I made an Italian Sausage Pasta Bake the other day and, of course, I had my Pompeian Olive Oil ready to go. I not only used the olive oil in my sauce but also to cook the sausage and on the bread I served.

I always add olive oil to my sauce. I used fresh tomatoes from my garden that I had frozen. I find the olive oil does not only add great flavor but it also mellows out the tartness of the tomatoes. I also cooked the sausage in olive oil before I added them to the sauce.

I find browning meat before adding it to a liquid gives it a richer and heartier taste. When you add the browned meat to the sauce, it picks up all that flavor and it also mellows the tartness. To finish the Pasta Bake, I cook pasta and then I add a little olive oil to my pan because it helps the pasta not stick to the bottom. I add the pasta to the pan, add the sauce and some mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and then mix it all up. Then I bake the pasta for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. It's that easy and that yummy!

Of course, I had to make some fresh bread to go with the pasta. So I cut some fresh bread and added some Pompeian Olive Oil to the top and baked for 15 minutes. There is no better accompaniment to delicious pasta then this bread!

I enjoy the taste of Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil because it is so tasty. I also like that it is the first olive oil to be approved for the USDA quality-monitoring program! USDA quality monitoring program verifies the purity and quality of the olive oil through rigorous USDA product testing and review of production processes.

So if you use olive oil, check out Pompeian the next time you are at the grocery store. If you have not tried it, you should. To help make your decision, Click here for a $1.00 off coupon for any Pompeian product. Pompeian also makes other products like vinegar, grape seed oil and cooking wines. I know I always have a few of these in my pantry. Also, like Pompeian on Facebook and you can receive a coupon as well. For some recipes, head over to the Pompeian Recipe page.

For a chance to win a $200 gift card, take a survey. Wow, $200 would buy a lot of olive oil!! Good luck.

Disclosure: I was provided a sample as part of the Smiley 360 Pompeian blogger campaign.