Chicken or Turkey Casserole

Chicken or Turkey Casserole

Grease a 3 quart casserole

• 3 cups homemade white sauce (thick or thin, a lot or a little as you prefer)
• leftover chicken or turkey - 1-2 cups cubed
• 1 lb pasta cooked until not quite al dente (I like spinach fettuccine best)
• 1/2 lb sliced mushrooms (or a can, drained)
• 1 small yellow onion minced
• 3 tbsp. olive oil (if not using grease of bacon below)
• 3 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled (optional)
• 3-6 large cloves garlic crushed (shallots are nice here too)
• 1 bunch or 1 pkg frozen leaf spinach, cooked and well drained
• salt
• pepper
• a pinch of nutmeg
• a pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)

While cooking the pasta, sauté the onion in olive oil (or bacon drippings if you don't worry about fat) when translucent, add garlic and then mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are almost tender and onion is lightly browned. At this point you have two options depending on your cooking style - you can set this aside and make a butter/flour roux to make a white sauce or add a bit more fat to this sautéed mixture, add flour and then milk to make your white sauce. I usually do the latter to save time and pot mess. At the end, add salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne to taste.

Drain pasta. Put about 1/4 of the sauce mixture on the bottom of the casserole. Layer pasta, spinach, cubed poultry and sauce mixture (or onion/mushroom mixture first then sauce) in 2 or 3 layers depending on the depth of the dish used, ending with a layer of sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan if desired.

Bake uncovered at 350° F for 25-40 minutes or until casserole is bubbly and top is golden.

Yum. You can adjust amounts to suit your family's taste. Mine likes stuff saucy so I make a good amount of white sauce. You can use more chicken. You can omit the mushrooms. You can substitute barely steamed broccoli for the spinach (but don't overcook it before adding to the casserole or it will be mushy and yuck) The bacon adds something but can be omitted if you don't have any or are being careful of fat content.

Joy
(2/19/02)