Baked Rotini with Spinach & Mushrooms

This is another dish that I created in my head.  I decided to build some flavors in our Dutch oven and then finish the dish by baking it in the oven.  I started by getting some sausage browining along with Italian seasonings.  Then I diced a yellow onion, half of a green bell pepper, and maybe 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic.

Since it was turkey sausage, there wasn't that much grease in the pan, otherwise I would have drained a good portion of it.  Instead, I just tossed in my peppers, onion, and garlic and simmered the ingredients together until they had broken down and softened a little.

Next I dumped in a can of stewed tomatoes that I had drained and then chopped up.  At this point I also sliced button mushrooms and added them to the mix.  As you can see by this picture, it was a pretty chunky mixture.

Next up I added balsamic vinegar, red wine, crushed red peppers and a large can of tomato sauce.  I put the lid on the Dutch oven and let the mixture simmer away for a half hour.  Remember that you will want to taste this mixture while you're making your sauce to make sure everything is coming out to your liking.  You can add a little of this, a little of that, and develop the profile you're going for.  Once I was done, I had made enough sauce for my baked pasta dish as well as a larger mason jar to be used at a later date.

I grabbed a square casserole dish and half of a box of rotini noodles.  I also thawed and drained a package of frozen chopped spinach. I combined my sauce, the noodles, spinach, Parmesan & mozzarella cheeses, and uncooked rotini noodles and stirred everything together.  I topped it with some more cheese, covered it with tin foil, and baked at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Then I removed the foil and baked for an additional 5-10 minutes to get a nice golden color on the cheese mixture on top.

I deliberately put the noodles in uncooked because I wanted them to be a little al dente.  There is moisture in the sauce and vegetables to help cook the noodles while they were covered by the tin foil.  This came out a bit like a lasanga but with rotini rather than sheets of pasta.  I quite liked it, and I think I will have to save this recipe for the future.