Baked Pasta Casserole

I feel like I've gotten pretty good at my "Use It Up" game the past few weeks. Costco, my favorite place to buy veggies, has a large bag of brussels sprouts for the price you would pay for a smaller bag at a grocery store. We had these brussles spouts recently. I wanted to find something a little less traditional with the remaining sprouts. I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks. If you haven't been to Heidi's blog, you should check it out. She takes amazing pictures and posts wonderful recipes.

I made some changes to Heidi's recipe, based on what I had on hand. Her recipe called for spinach, I substituted the brussels sprouts. I omitted the lemon zest called for in the recipe and used a shallot instead of an onion.

I served this as a side dish but it could easily be a meatless main dish. I loved this recipe. I wish the cheese was just a little more melty, something I will work on for next time. I didn't really expect my husband to like this pasta but he did.





Baked Pasta Casserole Recipe
Adapted from 101 Cookbooks

extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound pasta shells
sea salt
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups thinly sliced brussels sprouts
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, lightly toasted
8 ounces mozzerella, shredded or torn into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter/oil a large casserole dish or baking pan - something roughly equivalent to 13x9-inch pan.
Boil the pasta in salted water per package instructions. Drain pasta, toss with a glug of olive oil. Set aside.
In the meantime, heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Saute the shallots with a couple pinches of salt for a few minutes (or if you want a bit more depth of flavor until caramelized). Stir in garlic. Stir in brussels sprouts. You may need to add a little more oil. Cook until sprouts are softened, about 5- 7 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of the almonds. Add to pasta and stir and stir - mixing extremely well, a minute or so. Add a layer of the pasta to the bottom of the baking pan, now sprinkle with some of the cheese, add more pasta, then more cheese. Finish with a layer of cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly and melty. Top with remaining almonds.

I am linking this post to Tasty Tuesday's at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.