Walden's Spinach & Mushroom Casserole
Ingredients
16 oz pasta
4-5 sprigs of thyme leaves
4-5 sage leaves, chopped
2-3 tbsp butter
1 lb mushrooms, roughly bite sized or smaller
1.5 tbsp chopped garlic
1 yellow onion, quite thinly sliced
A couple handfuls of spinach
2 cups of shredded mozz
Optional: 2 cups of milk to replace pasta water
**I only used a pinch of salt to caramelize the onions. The salt from the mozz honestly did the rest. Black pepper is great too.
Directions
Cook pasta, set aside. Keep 2 cups of pasta water if you're not using milk.
In a saucepan, caramelize onion in butter and some of the herbs. As you continue to add things to the saucepan, add pinches of the herbs, saving a little for garnish.
Sweat out mushrooms (in batches a/n) in another pan. No need to cook through but don't worry if they do.
When onions caramelize, set oven to 350, then add the garlic and 1/3 of the mushrooms to the onions. Add some butter and slowly incorporate the flour until it's all in.
Add 1 cup of pasta water or milk, stir until incorporated. Then add the mozzarella, melt down, and add the other cup of water. Sauce should be dummy thicc but not unworkable.
Add the spinach because you almost forgot to. Stir to incorporate, but the heat from the sauce and oven will cook the spinach on its own.
Combine the sauce and pasta in a deepish baking dish. Add extra cheese and herbs to the top. Into the oven for 20 mins. Bam.