Sausage Broccoli Pasta

This dish has been a huge win as a freezer meal.  It is delicious, a complete meal and my kids like it.  Plus it's fairly easy and inexpensive.  It's pretty much perfect.  I make a triple batch, which is huge and makes enough for 7 dinners for my family.

If you want to make that much, you are going to need a very large bowl to mix it in.  I bought a 30 quart bowl specifically for freezer cooking and subsequently named my blog after it.  My husband likes to make fun of it and refers to it as "the satellite dish", but it has been incredibly helpful in making large batches.

Of course you can always make less than 3 batches if you don't have a bowl big enough.  You can always change the multiple of any recipe in row 4 of that recipe's column in the 'Recipes' tab.  The macro will multiply the recipe for you and place it in the 'Current Recipes' tab as well as scale the ingredients for your shopping list.

Adapted from: Smitten Ktichen
Difficulty: Moderate
Category: Heat and Eat
Recipe Column: H

Serves: 6 to 8

Pasta:
1 lb large pasta shells
1.5 lbs broccoli florets
1 lb Italian sausage
1/3 cup shredded parmesan
6 oz mozzarella, cut into small cubes
1 tbsp olive oil

Bechamel Sauce:
3 cups whole milk
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
pinch black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch nutmeg

1. Bring a large stockpot full of water to a boil.  Add the pasta.  Cook for 2 to 3 minutes then add the broccoli.
2. Cook the pasta and the broccoli together until the pasta is not quite done.  It should still be on the chewy side.  Freezing tends to make things mushy, plus you are going to bake all of this together when you serve it.  Undercooking the pasta and broccoli will  make it so the casserole has a good texture instead of being a big pan of mush.
3. When the pasta is reaches the appropriate doneness remove the pan from the heat immediately.  Pour the pasta and broccoli into a colander and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process.  If you are making a huge batch like me, you probably won't be able to fit all of the broccoli and pasta into the colander.  In this case, pour what will fit into the colander to be rinsed and drained.  Put the stock pot aside, and throw a couple cups of ice into the pan with the remaining broccoli and pasta to halt cooking while you rinse and drain what's in the colander. 
4. Make sure all the pasta and broccoli are well drained and no ice remains and put them in your large mixing bowl

While the pasta is cooking:

1. In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the sausage and cook until brown while stirring frequently and breaking up the clumps.
2. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and move it to the mixing bowl with the pasta and broccoli.  Leave fat in the pan. You will use it in the bechamel.

Make the bechamel:

1. Melt the butter over medium heat in the same pan you used to cook the sausage.  Add the flour and whisk together.  Cook the flour and butter mixture for one minute, whisking constantly.
2. Gradually start to add the milk. whisking constantly.  Add small amounts at a time at first, but as you go on you can start to add it more quickly.
3. Add the salt, pepper, garlic and nutmeg.  Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook, stirring frequently, until thick.  Adjust seasonings to taste and set aside to cool slightly.

Assemble:

1. Add the mozzarella and parmesan to the bowl with the sausage, pasta and broccoli.  Pour the bechamel sauce over everything and stir to combine.

To Freeze:

Divide the mixture into the number of meals you plan to use it for.  You can freeze this in pans if you want.  In this case, spread the mixture in each pan and top with 1/3 cup of parmesan (not included in the shopping list), wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze.  Or to save on space and pans, you can freeze the mixture in bags or other containers.  In this case you will add the parmesan to the top right before you cook.

To Serve:

Thaw the casserole overnight in the fridge.  If you froze it in a pan, unwrap the pan and cover in foil.  If you froze it in a different kind of container, spread the casserole mixture in a pan, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and cover with foil.  Bake at 375 degrees until the casserole reaches 140 degrees in the center, about 45 minutes.  Remove the foil towards the end of cooking to allow the top to brown.  Or, when the  casserole is heated through remove the foil and turn on the broiler to brown the top, but watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.