Tortellini Spinach Bake

YUM! Try this as an easy dinner or as a side – you’ll be glad you did!

Ingredients:
- 12 oz bag Barilla Cheese & Spinach Tortellini
- 4 strips of bacon
- 3 cloves minced garlic -
- 2 Tbs flour
- 2 C milk
- ¾ tsp kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp dry basil
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 medium lemon
- 2 C loosely packed fresh spinach, roughly chopped
- ¾ C grated mozzarella cheese, divided
- ¾ C grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

- Cook tortellini according to directions.

- Cook bacon in skillet until crisp, remove from pan.

- Reserve two tablespoons bacon drippings in pan and discard the rest. Add garlic and cook about 1 minute. Add flour to pan and stir with a whisk for about 1 minute. Slowly add milk and continue to stir with whisk until smooth.

- Add salt, pepper, basil, and red pepper flakes and bring sauce to a simmer.

- While sauce is heating, zest lemon. Then cut lemon in half and remove juice. Add 1 teaspoon zest and 2 teaspoons lemon juice to sauce. Continue to stir until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat.

- Drain tortellini and place back in pot. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the cooked bacon and add the rest to the pasta mixture. Add spinach, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Add sauce and gently stir to combine. Place pasta mixture in a baking dish and top with remaining 1/4 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup parmesan and also crumbled bacon.

- Cover pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese on top is melted and pasta is bubbly. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Tips from a Kitchen of Reality:

- I didn’t have a lemon, just used lemon juice. I’m sure the lemon flavor would have been stronger had I used a real lemon.

- I could only find the 8 oz bags ot tortellini at Walmart—so I bought two and used them both so we would have leftovers for lunch and dinner tomorrow. I had plenty of sauce to go around without adding anything extra.

Originally from Our Best Bites Website.