Baked Pasta with Spinach and Mushrooms
I originally made this recipe earlier this year for my son and his girlfriend. I then followed a recipe from Feasting at Home blog. The recipe uses ricotta as the cheese inside the bake and while it turned out delicious, I later read a blog post by Smitten Kitchen where she described how she substitutes ricotta cheese with other Italian cheeses. Therefore I came up with this mash up, which reminds me of an old European lasagna recipe actually. I used white button mushrooms as those were readily available but other mushrooms like shiitake would work as well. For the cheese I used Trader Joe’s Quattro Formaggi blend, but any blend of grated Italian cheese will work.
Makes 4 servings
INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
10 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
10 oz fresh baby spinach
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp red chili flakes
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 24 oz jar good quality marinara sauce (or use your homemade)
8 oz dry pasta (penne, ziti and rotini all work)
1 cup grated Italian cheeses (parmesan, pecorino, mozzarella)
fresh basil and freshly grated parmesan for garnish
STEPS:
Preheat oven to 400 F
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat and add onions, mushrooms and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook stirring until all the liquid from mushrooms has cooked off.
Add spinach and cook until wilted. The add the Italian seasoning and chili flakes and mix well.
Add the vegetable broth and marinara sauce, stir a d bring to simmer. (Make sure the mixture is simmering, otherwise the baking time will need to be adjusted)
Add the dry paste to a large baking dish (I used a lasagna dish). Add most of the cheese and the mushroom mixture to the dish. Mix well. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
Uncover and let the top gt golden brown for couple more minutes.
Serve with fresh basil and freshly ground parmesan.
Enjoy!