Chorizo and Baby Bella Baked Pasta

Every once in awhile it's nice to make a one-pot meal.  Life gets a little busy and throwing everything in one dish and popping it into the oven is great.  This technically classifies as a good old casserole, but it's a darn sight tastier than tuna casserole - no offense to those of you who think that's the bee's knees.  While you can pair it with a salad (a nice arugula with a lemon vinaigrette would be lovely), that would be a bonus and not essential in my book.  This originally came from a 1992 Bon Appetit recipe.

Chorizo and Baby Bella Baked Pasta

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 12 ounces onions, chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 8 ounces baby portobello mushrooms, quartered
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika (you can use sweet or hot, but smoked is preferable)
• 1 pinch cayenne (or more if you want it really spicy)
• 15 ounces canned diced tomatoes
• 1 large green bell pepper, diced
• 3 cups low salt chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine (see below)
• 12 ounces chorizo - the fresh variety, not the cured
• 12 ounces dried angel hair or spaghetti pasta (if you can, get pre-cut in small pieces)
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced

If you prefer a vegetarian option - there is a good soy chorizo available at Trader Joe's and you can easily substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Heat olive oil in heavy deep 12" skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and garlic and cook until tender, stirring frequently, about 8 minutes.  Add mushrooms and green pepper and sauté 4 minutes.  Add paprika and cayenne and stir until just fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chorizo and sauté 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and sauté another 2 minutes.  Add chicken broth and wine and bring mixture to simmer.  If you have whole pasta, break pasta in half and add to pan otherwise, just add pasta pieces to pan.  Cook until the pasta is tender, stirring occasionally, about 8 minutes.  Set pan in oven and bake until all liquid is absorbed and pasta is crusty, about 25 minutes.  Sprinkle generously with parsley and freshly cracked black pepper.

We tend to drink the rest of the white wine we used in the recipe with this.  The most widely recommended white wines with spicy food are Reislings or a Grüner Vetliner.  One of our current favorite Grüner Vetliners is Höpler.