It started with some leftover meatballs in the fridge, followed when my favorite market agreed to stock Kite Hill tortellini so I bought some with spinach in them, continued when I realized that I had zucchini, some mushrooms, some pasta sauce and some shredded mozzarella cheese in the fridge and a yen for a baked pasta casserole.
Sometimes the thing you throw together without a recipe is just wonderful, and this was one of those times. Sweetie really loved this dish, so I need to save it so I have a place to start next time.
You can use any kind of pasta, but a filled one like tortellini or ravioli gives this dish some weight and also multiple flavors from the pasta, ricotta, and spinach. If you are gluten free, use your favorite gluten free pasta.
You can use your favorite home made or jarred pasta sauce. I was almost finished with a jar of Newman's Own marinara sauce, so that's what I used.
You can play with the veggies. The zucchini and mushrooms were perfect, but you could substitute another kind of squash, string beans, onions...whatever your favorite is for an Italian flavored meal.
No meatballs? Try some Italian sausage either in sliced rounds or taken out of any casings and cooked that way like ground meat. Either way, do cook the sausage. Ground beef, chicken or turkey could also be used, just cook it and break it up into bite sized pieces or smaller and season with Italian herbs like oregano, basil and rosemary, plus some garlic or garlic powder.
I recommend that you use a good Parmesan and be liberal with the shredded cheese. Mozzarella is great and gives you those strings of melted cheese, but Provalone would work and so would Jack cheese, or even a mixture of cheeses. If you are not fond of cheese or are going for dairy free (the Kite Hill tortellini are made with non-dairy ricotta), try a mixture of breadcrumbs and either melted butter or olive oil to top the casserole with instead of cheese.
Instructions:
Bring a large pot of water to a full boil. Add a teaspoon salt, stir and boil for about a half minute to allow the salt to dissolve. Add the tortellini, stir, lower the heat so it doesn't boil over (so just a little bit lower), then cook until the pasta is tender, stirring occasionally. Mine took about 8 minutes.
While the pasta is cooking, slice one medium zucchini in half moons and about ten medium mushrooms to about the same thickness ( I cut mine into about 1/4-inch slices). Cook over medium heat in a frying pan coated with spray olive oil. Season with a sprinkle of pepper. I did each veg in one batch which pretty much covered the bottom of the frying pan. Turn them over once brown on one side and let brown on the other. Add about 1 1/2 - 2 cups pasta sauce and stir. (Be sure that both veggies are in the pan.)
Take your desired portion of meatballs. If large cut into bite sized pieces...I quartered mine. Add to the veggie mixture, stir and let it all warm up. From the size of my meatballs I estimated that I should use 10 and that worked well for the 10 oz. or so of tortellini.
By now the pasta should be done. Drain. Spray a baking dish (I used a 9 x 9-inch pan) with olive oil. Add the drained pasta. Cover with the veggie/meatball mixture. Over that put an even layer of shredded mozzarella cheese and grate some Parmesan over. Put into an oven preheated to 400 degrees F.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and browned a bit on top. Serve at once.
Serves about 2-4 ... if you add more veggies it will serve more
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