COOKING WITH KIDS: Tortellini Casserole

This month, I wanted to share a recipe for one of my favorite pasta casseroles. It’s a great dinner for family or friends, and it’s easy to make ahead and reheat when you’re ready to serve.

This recipe is like a lasagna, but more fun to make, as it involves stuffing and folding the pasta into small rings of tortellini. Once the tortellini are made, you don’t have to boil them before putting them in the casserole; just add them to a casserole dish with a homemade bechamel and marinara sauce (both recipes included below). The pasta cooks as the casserole bakes.

To prepare this tortellini casserole, I secured the help of my 8-year-old neighbor, Luke Tolley.

Luke was excited to pick basil from the garden for the marinara sauce and help prepare the bechamel. He also loved cracking the eggs and using the food processor to make the tortellini filling.

Just like the ravioli recipe I made with my niece Emory in January, we used pasta dough from Charlotte’s Pasta & Provisions.

Luke and I knocked out the casserole in one afternoon, but if you want to do it in stages, you can make the bechamel and marinara and store in the refrigerator for a couple of days before assembling your tortellini casserole.

The filling is best mixed together just before you start to make the tortellini, but you could shred the cheeses ahead of time if you like.

Tortellini Filling:

• 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten

Place the cheeses in a bowl and add the eggs. Stir by hand or blend the ingredients together in a food processor.

Basic White Sauce or Bechamel:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1½ – 2 cups milk
• Salt and pepper

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan. When butter is completely melted, add an equal amount of all-purpose flour. Blend the mixture with the edge of a flat wood spatula or whisk so the butter absorbs the flour. This mixture is called a roux, the more the roux cooks, the more the flour will toast and brown. For white sauce, we don’t want browning, so once the flour is incorporated and the mixture looks like thick white glue, add 2 cups of milk. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to stir or whisk the mixture until the milk begins to thicken. This is a béchamel sauce.

Heidi’s Super Simple Marinara Sauce:

• 1 carrot, minced
• 1 celery stalk, minced
• 1 leek, minced
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 3 cans whole Italian tomatoes, with liquid or 8 whole ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves

Sauté carrots, celery, leek, and garlic in olive oil until very tender. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and oregano. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, simmer 15-20 minutes (if you use fresh tomatoes, the sauce will need to simmer a bit more). Add minced basil and simmer 5 minutes more. Adjust seasonings to suit your tastes.

Tortellini Ingredients:

• 1-2 pounds uncut pasta dough from Pasta & Provisions
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 batch of tortellini filling
• 1 round cookie cutter 3-4 inches in diameter

Directions:

1. Place a sheet of the pasta dough on a lightly floured surface. Dust it lightly with flour and roll it out to make the dough a bit thinner.
2. Use the cookie cutter to cut circles out of the dough. Brush the circles with a thin layer of beaten egg. Make sure to spread the egg all the way to the edges of each dough circle.
3. Place a bit of the filling in the center of each circle. To shape the tortellini, fold the dough in half to make a semi-circle, then dab an extra bit of beaten egg on both tips of the semicircle. Then fold back the two tips and squeeze them together so it looks like you have a ring made out of pasta. This “ring” is your tortellini.
4. When you’ve completed your tortellini rings, you’re ready to assemble your casserole.
5. First, spoon a layer of bechamel sauce in the bottom of a 13×9 inch casserole dish. Top that with a layer of marinara. Add uncooked tortellini to the dish, placing them side-by-side in a single layer. Top with another layer of marinara, and then another layer of bechamel.
6. Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for 45 minutes. Remove the foil from the hot pan and top the casserole with a sprinkle of Parmesan or Mozzarella. Place back in the oven for another 5-8 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and let it cool slightly before serving. Enjoy!