A delicious meal using leftover turkey, chicken or ham. Rich and comforting!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Cook pasta 1-2 minutes less than package directions (it wil cook more in the oven). Drain and keep to the side.
In an stove and oven safe dish (I like Le Crueset), cook the bacon. Remove bacon and chop.
In the bacon fat (if there is too much fat remove all but about 1 Tablespoon) add onions and saute for about 5 minutes or until translucent.
Add garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes.
Add mushrooms, herbs and 2 Tablespoons butter. Cook over medium-high heat until mishrooms have softened-about 5 minutes.
Sprinkle flour over mushroom mixture. Stir until you can no longer see the flour. It will be a huge gloppy pile of mushrooms/onions... thats OK! Cook stiring for about 1 minute. You are trying to "cook" the flour so you don't taste raw flour. You are creating a base for a thick and creamy sauce.
Add sherry and scrape up any stuff on the bottom of the pan.
Add broth and stir until the mixture becomes a sauce.
Add half and half (I never said this was low calorie).
Simmer over medium heat until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Add cooked pasta, turkey, peas and bacon to the sauce. Stir to combine. It will be thick. If it is just too thick add 1/4 cup more broth (if you are out of broth use water). You want it thick but not so thick that it is a glop. It will thicken more in the oven.
Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesean cheese.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/2 cup Parmesean cheese and Panko bread crumbs.
Sprinkle cheese and bread crumb mixture over turkey/pasta. Lightly drizzle olive oil over bread crumb mixutre.
Bake 30 minutes in oven until top is golden brown.