What is the Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean Diet was a concept started in the 1960s which provides loose eating habits based on the diets of people living near the Mediterranean Sea such as Greece, Italy, Turkey, and Spain.
It encourages a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and healthy fats. In many studies, it has been shown to prevent vascular disease like strokes, heart attacks, and diabetes.
While the health benefits are plentiful, we chose this meal also because we love the flavors that go into Mediterranean dishes. With sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and fresh herbs, what’s not to love about this recipe?!
Mediterranean Casserole
Check out this recipe for a festive pot luck or cook it over the weekend to have plenty of meal-prep during the week. It keeps well in the fridge for a week and you can also freeze extras if you prefer.
Of note, since this recipe makes a lot of food, you can either half the recipe or you can use two simultaneous casserole dishes or just bake one, set aside, and bake the other half.
Mediterranean Diet Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 lbs ground turkey
- 1 box pasta ziti or fusili
- 1 24 oz can tomato pasta sauce like marinara
- 1 14 oz can artichokes
- 1 head broccoli chopped into small florets
- 1 cup olives chopped
- ¼ cup sun dried tomatoes roughly chopped
- 2 Roma tomatoes chopped
- 1 cup roasted red pepper roughly chopped
- 1 handful basil roughly chopped
- 1 bunch parsley chopped
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- ½ tsp Italian herbs
- Salt pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package instructions (preferably al dente), then drain and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the broccoli florets and garlic (with skin still on) with some olive oil and bake on a baking sheet for about 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, Use a large pan on medium-high heat to cook the turkey (preferably in 2 batches), breaking it apart as it cooks. Add salt/pepper, and Italian herbs to this and set aside.
- Prepare the remaining ingredients (except for cheese) and combine into a large bowl. Add the turkey. When the broccoli is done cooking, toss it into the bowl too. Remove garlic from skin, chop, and add to the bowl. Mix everything together until well-combined.
- Split the mixture into 2 casserole dishes (or you can just do one at a time). Sprinkle over 1 cup mozzarella onto each casserole. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook in oven for 25 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
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6 thoughts on “Mediterranean Diet Casserole”
There are two very important steps left out of this recipe that a novice cook would not notice and ruin the meal. First off, the pasta needs to be cooked before adding to the casserole. Next, there is no temperature listed for roasting the broccoli and garlic. This should really be updated
Also, no temperature for cooking the casserole. For anyone wondering roast the broccoli and garlic at 400° and cook the casserole at 350°.
Thank you for pointing that out! We have updated the recipe to include those details. Sometimes things like this slip through our proofreading so we’re glad that thoughtful people like yourself nudge us 🙂
I have a question as well. Do you use roasted red peppers from a jar or did you actually roast red peppers in the oven? That would be another step.
Good question. You can certainly do either way but we went with canned roasted red peppers for convenience.