Spinach Tortellini Bake–Sunday Dinner Success! <3

Tonight I kept with the post wedding tradition of making a new dinner from Pinterest.  Funny – I had to go to the grocery store this morning but had no idea what I wanted to make while making my shopping list {and nothing sounded good since I was not hungry} so today consisted of two trips to the grocery store.  And after staring at Pinterest for WAY too long this afternoon, I decided on a Tortellini Spinach Bake.

:: Ingredients – modified from the original ::

I took out the bacon because it just sounded weird.  If you want the original recipe, head HERE!

12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortellini (find them in the dry pasta aisle)
3 cloves garlic, pressed in garlic press or finely minced
2 Tbs flour
2 C milk
¾ tsp kosher salt
⅛ tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp dry basil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 tsp or more if you like spicy)
1 medium lemon
2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

:: Directions ::

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large stock pot with water and bring to a boil. Add tortellini and cook according to package instructions.

In separate pan – a big pan - Add garlic to pan and cook until fragrant and tender, about 1 minute. Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth. Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

While sauce is heating, use a micro plane grater or a fine-holed cheese grater to zest lemon  [yeah – I did not do this I just squeezed in like half a lemon]. Then cut lemon in half and remove juice.  [didn’t do anything that is in the rest of this paragraph] Add 2 teaspoons zest and 1 tablespoon lemon juice to sauce. (Note: I really love lemon so I added this to my tastes. If you don’t want as strong of a lemon flavor, I suggest cutting it down to 1 teaspoon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice) . Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Drain tortellini and place back in stock pot. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture. Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to combine. Place pasta mixture in an 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan.

Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly throughout. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

:: Final Product ::

And I will give it 3 stars out of 5.  Only because I think it had too much spinach in it. Kyle really liked it, so I will of course cook it again – but I think I will modify it one of two ways.  Either swap out the cheese and spinach tortellini for just the cheese kind OR I will just put in less chopped up spinach.  I think it may be easier to swap out the tortellini type, but who knows.

 

Oh and hello from the babies!!  Kennesaw is a little more alert than Mr. Mulligan is.  He hates the camera, but still says hello!!!