I needed a dish to use up the pound of fettucine noodles leftover after last night’s dinner as well as the two slices of leftover bruschetta. I love using leftovers to make an entirely new dish. As I can’t think of a good way to reheat leftover bruschetta, this seemed like the perfect way to incorporate both the leftover noodles and leftover bruschetta.
ingredients.
- 1 lb fettucine noodles cooked about a minute or two less than al dente
- 2 T. butter
- 3 T. flour
- 4 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 c. whole milk
- 1 c. half and half
- 1 c. finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 c. finely grated Monterrey jack cheese
- 2 T. fresh basil leaves Julienned (basil chiffonade)
- two pieces of leftover Tomato and Basil Bruschetta
- parmesan cheese for garnish
directions.
- Place noodles in a 2.5 quart casserole dish. Top with basil chiffonade. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Prepare sauce. Melt butter in a medium-sized pot and add minced garlic. Cook over low heat for two or three minutes. Add the flour and increase the heat to medium. Cook for two minutes. Add milk and cream and whisk to ensure the flour mixture is completely dissolved. Cook over medium heat until the sauce begins to thicken slightly – about five or 10 minutes. Add the cheeses and stir until completely melted. Pour over fettucine noodles. Season with salt and pepper.
- Scrape the tomato and basil mixture off the leftover bruschetta and sprinkle over the pasta. Pull apart the bread slices and place on top the tomatoes. Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Bake for 45 minutes in preheated oven until sauce bubbles around the sides and cheese begins to get crusty and the bread is browned. Remove from oven and let sit 5 or 10 minutes before serving.
The only way I could think of to improve upon this dish would be to add some additional grated cheese in with the sauce and the noodles when baking. Other than that, it was pretty dang amazing.
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 