eat.this.food.

Lincoln Park Bow Tie Pasta October 28, 2006

This is so damn good it should be against the law. Rick had to physically remove it from the table so he would stop eating it. I call it macaroni and cheese for adults. It is great with a fresh green salad with lemony vinaigrette – to cut the richness of the sauce. This would also be good to serve at a dinner party as a pasta appetizer in a small portion as they sometimes do at good Italian restaurants. OR you could eat it standing up, out of the baking pan, in your pajamas, straight out of the fridge and then work out every day for 2 weeks to make up for it. Which ever! (Written by Sheri)

Sorry…no picture for this one as of yet…too hungry to take pictures when we made it the first time. I wanted to post because it is so good…you should just try it, even without a picture to entice you!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ pound shitake mushrooms**
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 (28 oz) can Italian plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
• 4 ounces sliced Prosciutto, diced (optional)
• 1 cup grated fontina cheese (about 4 oz.)
• 1 cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (about 4 oz.)
• 1 3/4 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 7 oz.)
• ½ cup chopped parsley
• 1 pound large farfalle (bowtie) pasta

**You can substitute regular white mushroom or baby ‘bellas for all or part of the shitakes.

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, sauté the onion, garlic, basil, oregano, and pepper flakes in the olive oil over low heart for about 5 minutes, until the onion softens.
2. Remove the stems from the mushrooms, discarding them and slicing the mushroom caps. Add them to the onion mixture and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, until the mushroom caps are tender.
3. Transfer the mushroom mixture to a bowl.
4. In the same pan, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter, stir in the flour, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often. Whisk in the milk and continue to whisk until the sauce thickens.
5. Stir in the mushroom mixture tomatoes, prosciutto, fontina cheese, Gorgonzola cheese, 1 ¼ Parmesan cheese, and the parsley. Set aside.
6. Cook the bowties in a large pot of boiling water for about 8 to 9 minutes - the pasta will be very al dente. This is good.
7. Mix the pasta into the sauce and add salt and pepper to taste.
8. Transfer to an ovenproof casserole. At this point you can refrigerate the casserole overnight. Before baking, remove the casserole from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature.
9. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
10. Sprinkle the casserole with the remaining Parmesan and dot with the remaining butter, cut into bits.
11. Bake for about 35 to 45 minutes or until the casserole is heated through and bubbly.

6 to 8 servings.

Recipe from