Using your imagination




It is common for Italians to sit down to a large bowl of pasta for lunch or as a starter. For quick dinners or lunch, I enjoy mixing up various types of pasta dishes (I cannot make it long without a pasta fix). The recipe below has endless varieties. First try the recipe and then the next time you make it, add any number of other delights including sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, fresh mozzarella, meatballs or Italian sausage, etc.

Ingredients (4 to 5 servings):

• 1 pound fresh button mushrooms sliced (could use portabella mushrooms)
• ½ cup dry red wine
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound penne (fresh if you can make or find it)
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 pound grated parmesan cheese
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon fresh basil (you can substitute an equal amount of dry if you don't have fresh)
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano (you can substitute an equal amount of dry if you don't have fresh)
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Rinse the mushrooms and place them in a frying pan. Add the wine and butter and cook on high until all the liquid is gone – about 20 minutes. Set them aside. Meanwhile, cook the penne in a Dutch oven containing a few quarts of boiling salt water for about 10 minutes. Drain through a colander once the penne has cooked and make sure most of the water is gone but the pasta is still hot. Put the pasta back in the Dutch oven along with the olive oil, parmesan, garlic, basil, oregano, pepper flakes, salt, and pepper and mix. Now if you would like, try some of the other ingredients I mention in the introductory paragraph. My family and I will eat this as a main course for dinner sometimes we like it so much.

Enjoy.


Mushroom penne pasta