Leftover chili casserole with mushrooms and pasta

Since we didn't manage to eat the chili the day I made it and I have an aversion to eating the same dish for two consecutive days I decided to make a casserole.

It quite easy to make and quick too, if you have everything on hand. Still, it's easy to adapt this recipe to use anything you've got in the fridge/pantry.

I bought some mushrooms a couple of days before and grated and cooked them with onions and butter. Instead of mushrooms you can use pickled or fried peppers or zucchini or whatever you can think of (if something else worked for you please leave it in the comments, as I always love to try something out).

Cheese - I had Gouda and that's what I used - any other meltable (is it a word?) cheese will do :)

It appears that grated Gouda melts better, but who knew...

Sauces - ketchup and any other you like - I used mayo with herbs sauce and it worked great with chili.

Pasta - I used two types: penne and girandole - it's good to pre- cook pasta for a couple of minutes - just to make sure it gets completely cooked in the casserole.

Some facts:

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 - 30 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Yield: one 22x30x5 cm pan


Ingredients

• 5-6 cups or 250-300g pasta (penne, rigatoni or girandole)
  
• 350g mushrooms
  
• 2 cups grated gouda cheese
  
• 100 - 150 g sliced gouda cheese
  
• 2 cups leftover chili con carne or any stew
  
• 6-8 tablespoons butter
  
• 1 medium onion
  
• ketchup
  
• garlic sauce or mayonnaise sauce with herbs
  
• dry oregano
  

Cooking Directions

Pre-cook pasta - till it's al dente. Drain and leave to cool. 

Grate mushrooms. Chop onion and fry it on 1 tablespoon butter till it's transparent. Add mushrooms and the rest of butter and cook for 10-15 minutes. Leave to cool. 

Heat chilli. Turn of the heat and leave to cool. 

Slice Gouda.

Take a pan and line it with aluminium foil (easier to clean). 

Grease the foil with olive oil. 

Put the ingredients in layers:

1. pasta (girandole)
2. ketchup and mayo sauce - criss-cross on top of pasta
3. chilli
4. oregano
5. ketchup and mayo sauce
6. grated Gouda cheese
7. pasta (penne)
8. ketchup and mayo sauce
9. mushrooms
10. oregano
11. ketchup and mayo sauce
12. sliced Gouda cheese

Put in the oven (you don't have to pre-heat it). Bake for 20-30 minutes in 170*C.

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