Baked Lemon Spinach Tortellini

I found this recipe and cooked this a long a time ago. Probably late spring but never got around to posting it. I think its a good meal for the end of summer on a cooler night.

Ingredients:

bag of tortellini (dry spinach and cheese)
4 strips of bacon
3 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
pinch or two of salt
sprinkle of pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon of basil
1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
1 large lemon
2 cups fresh spinach
3/4 cups grated mozzarella cheese
2.3 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Adapted from Our Best Bites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil large pot of water and add tortellini. I choose the tortellini in the dry pasta aisle. I had never had it and it was surprisingly tasty. Cook according to package instructions.

Microwave 4 or so pieces of bacon. Cook unto crispy and pat with a paper towel. In a skillet add two tablespoons of olive oil and garlic to pan. Cook for about a minute. Add flour to pan and stir together. Then slowly add milk and stir until smooth. Then salt, pepper, basil and red pepper flakes and continue to stir till the sauce comes to a simmer.

Zest lemon and then cut it in half to juice. Add 2 teaspoons of zest and 2 tablespoons of juice to the sauce. I'm a big lemon fan and I added a little more probably more like 3 or 4 tablespoons. Let thicken then remove from heat after a few minutes.

When tortellini is cooked drain and put back in pot. Add bacon (keep a tablespoon out), spinach, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese to the pasta. Add sauce and stir to combine. Place pasta in baking dish I used a 7 x 11 Pyrex dish. Top with the rest of the mozzarella, Parmesan, and bacon. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10. Let cool before serving.

Enjoy
Kathryn