Kitchen Cats: Wild Mushroom Pastitsio

One day back from heavy eating in NYC, on Monday we made 2 dishes from Cooking Light's November 2011 issue: Wild Mushroom Pastitsio and Sausage, Mushroom, Potato Gratin (next post). Luckily I was home early enough to help put some work into these dishes. They took a little bit of time, but were not too hard and both tasted really great. The baked pasta turned into a dense casserole, bound by the egg and cheese.

Wild Mushroom Pastitsio

4 tsp olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves
12-16 oz of exotic mushroom blend, chopped
1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
8 oz of tomato sauce
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp unsalted butter
1.5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 cups 1% milk (used skim)
1.5 cups (6 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
4 cups cooked fusilli (rotini) pasta

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in Dutch oven over med-high. Add onion, garlic and saute 3 minutes until tender. Add mushrooms. Cook for 8 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir in oregano, salt, pepper, nutmeg, tomato sauce. Cook 2 minutes, then remove from heat.

Combine eggs and parsley in large bowl.
Heat 1 tsp oil and butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle flour into pan and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring with whisk. Bring to a boil and cook 2 minutes, until thickened, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat and let stand 4 minutes. Stir in 1 cup cheese.
Gradually add hot milk mixure to egg mixture, stirring constantly with whisk.
Add pasta to milk mixture and toss to combine.

Spread 2 cups pasta mixture into 11x7" glass dish. Top with mushroom mixture.
Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

(Forgot to add 1/2 cup cheese and broil at the end).
(Original recipe called for layers of: half pasta mixture, all mushroom mixture, half pasta mixture on top).