Classic Cheesy Ham Tetrazzini Recipe

While tetrazzini may sound like a fancy Italian dish, it's actually a made-in-America casserole that was named for an early 20th-century Italian opera singer. While the earliest such casserole was made with chicken, it may now be best known as a way to use up leftover turkey, although in this recipe we're using ham as the meat, instead. Recipe developer Erin Johnson calls this recipe "the perfect way to use leftover ham or a ham steak," so perhaps it could be to Easter what turkey tetrazzini is to Thanksgiving.

One thing Johnson points out about this casserole, though, is that it's "easily adaptable to your tastes and preferences." She says that she sometimes likes to use asparagus in place of peas and Swiss cheese instead of cheddar, although you can make whatever other cheese, vegetable, or even meat swaps that suit you as long as you stick to the basic template of pasta, meat, cheese, and vegetables cooked in a white sauce.

The basic building blocks for this tetrazzini recipe are spaghetti, cooked ham, shredded cheddar, and peas, cooked in a sauce made from butter, flour, milk, and chicken broth. Additional ingredients include an onion, mushrooms, garlic, and thyme, plus some salt and pepper for seasoning.

Boil the spaghetti until it's just al dente –- the package it comes in should provide the cooking time, but it's best to test a strand early just to make sure it doesn't overcook and get mushy.

While the pasta is cooking, fry the onions and mushrooms until they soften Once the onions are tender, stir in the garlic and cook it until it smells nice and garlicky.

Stir the butter and flour into the pan. Once the butter melts and the flour starts to form a paste, slowly stir in the milk and the broth. Follow this up with the thyme and the cheese, stirring until the latter melts.

Once the cheese melts, stir the ham and peas into the sauce, then taste it and add whatever salt and pepper you feel that it needs. Follow this up with the cooked spaghetti, stirring until every noodle is coated with sauce. Your tetrazzini is now ready to eat if you want it to be, although Johnson notes that she likes "to take a moment to brown the top under the broiler." She does say, though, that this additional step is "not necessary if you're in a hurry to get dinner on the table."

Leftover tetrazzini should be good in the refrigerator for up to three days. If you won't be eating it within this time period, though, you can always freeze it for later use.