Ham And Cheese Pasta Bake

Ingredients

• 2 cups penne pasta
• 1 Tablespoon oil
• 2 red onions, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 6-8 black forest ham slices
• 1/2 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
• (Serves 6)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. T o cook pasta, fill a large pot 2/3 of the way with hot tap water. Add 1 teaspoon salt to the water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and stir with a wooden spoon to be sure noodles don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat down, enough to maintain a boil and stir every so often to prevent noodles sticking. Do not cover the pot. After 8-10 minutes, take a piece of pasta out of the water, allow it to cool and do a test for doneness.
4. Bite into the pasta. If it is too hard to bite or you see a white center, it needs to cook a little longer.
5. When it cooks all the way through it is ready and cooked el dente. Turn off the heat, put the pasta into a strainer. Shake out excess water and put the pot back onto a cool part of the stove.Pour one tablespoon oil into the noodles to keep them from sticking together.
6. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the onions for about 5 minutes, until tender Add garlic and cook one minute longer. In a medium bowl, combine the milk, cream cheese, flour, eggs, paprika, salt and pepper. Whisk until well combined. Pour the milk mixture into the skillet with the onions and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes, until sauce thickens. Pour over the pasta and stir in to combine. Add ham slices and basil and gently combine until well coated. Transfer to the baking dish. Top with the grated mozzarella cheese.
7. Cover dish with aluminium foil. Place into preheated oven. Bake for for 15 minutes, covered.Remove foil and continue baking for another 15 minutes, uncovered, until heated through and the cheese is melted and golden.
8. Let set 5 minutes before serving.