Prosciutto, Spinach, and Pasta Casserole

Submitted by Redsie

"I love pasta! And this recipe is wonderful. I adapted the recipe from BHG to add more vegetables. Hope you enjoy it as we did!"

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 8 ounces packaged dried orecchiette or 8 ounces ziti pasta
• 1 tablespoon margarine or 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 medium onions, cut into thin wedges or 5 medium leeks, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin wedges
• 10 mushrooms, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1⁄4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon anise seed, crushed
• 1 3⁄4 cups skim milk
• 1 1⁄2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1⁄4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
• 2 ounces prosciutto, cut into thin bite-size strips
• 1 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped

directions

1. Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
2. Drain pasta; rinse pasta with cold water. Drain again.
3. In a large saucepan melt margarine or butter.
4. Add onions or leeks, bell pepper, mushroms and garlic.
5. Cover and cook about 5 minutes or until onions are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in flour and aniseed.
6. Add the milk and chicken broth all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in Parmesan cheese.
7. Stir in the cooked pasta, spinach, and prosciutto.
8. Spoon the mixture into a 2-quart casserole.
9. Cover and bake in a 350 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until heated through.
10. Let stand about 5 minutes.
11. To serve, stir gently and top with chopped tomato.

Reviews

[Caroline Cooks]

Delightful flavors; I'm so pleasantly surprised. It is a terrifc dish. Love the saltiness of the Proscuitto, with the sauce and chopped tomatoes. DELISH!

 

[ksduffster]

I love pasta too and this was really good. I left out the mushrooms due to allergy. Our only problem was that 5 leeks is a lot of leeks, even if they don't have as strong a flavor as onions, so I cut it back to 3 leeks and we found that to still be too much leek. When I make this again I will probably only use one leek or a small amount of chopped onion. Before baking, I sprinkled it with a couple tablespoons of parmesan and then with some Italian-seasoned panko to give it a little crunch. All in all, we liked this a lot and I will definitely be making it again. Thanks Redsie!