Creamy Spinach and Pancetta Shells

On freezing Minnesota nights (like tonight), I always turn to warm creamy comfort foods. I was craving something reminiscent of the hot dishes Midwesterners are famous for. You know the ones; carb laden smothered with a fattening cream of something soup sauce.  To cut fat and keep flavor I turned to my favorite friends; cured pork, garlic, and the onion family.  For the creamy sauce, I used 1% milk, bit of half and half for fat and a flour slurry.  Not sure what a slurry is? Don't worry it’s a little like making paper mache “paste” but thinner. The directions are simple and below in the recipe.

So not only did we get the fat reduced down and the flavor in but I needed to get some veggies worked in.  If you know me well or have been following along you know I am NOT a veggie eater and am always looking for ways to sneak them in on myself. Yes, I am fully aware how strange that sounds. J

Thankfully I had picked up a bag of baby spinach at the store recently.  I assumed that adding it in to the creamy flavorful sauce would be reminiscent of creamed spinach (and thus would taste great).  

In the end, I also added in some chopped up left over chicken breast from another meal for some added protein.

Creamy Spinach and Pancetta Shells

1 12 ounce box of small shells (I used a Barilla white fiber product for added fiber content) uncooked

4 cups of raw baby spinach chopped

3 ounces of pancetta diced

1 bunch of green onions (chopped up 2/3^rd’s of the stalk)

2 cloves of garlic minced

¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3 ½ cups of 1% milk, divided

¼ cup half-n-half

½ shredded parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees

In a Dutch oven, spray with non-stick cooking spray. Heat over medium-high heat. Add pancetta, onions and garlic to the pan and sauté for 7 minutes or until some fat has rendered out of the pancetta and the onions are tender. Be careful to not burn the garlic.

While sautéing, bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook the noodles until they are almost tender. They will finish cooking in the sauce in the oven later.

In a small bowl measure out the flour and slowly add ¾ cup of the milk to the flour being careful to work out the lumps. This is your thickening slurry.

Add the flour mixture, remaining milk, and half-n-half to the Dutch oven pancetta mixture. Bring up to a simmer being careful to stir frequently and avoid the milk burning to the bottom. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes until the sauce begins to thicken.  Add in the cheese.  Add in the spinach and cooked noodles. Place the pot in the oven uncovered for 15-20 minutes until golden and bubbly. Serve warm.

1 ½ cup = approximately 500 calories