How About a Little Pasta with Your Parm?

There really was some pasta under here, but I love grated Parmesan cheese more than the pasta. It's also fabulous on freshly-sliced Idaho potato French fries.

This is...Pasta?

I've never seen anything like this before! My mom sent it to me from Seattle. Mexican hat and bow-tie pastas. My plan is to do a filled shell-type dish with the hats. Suggestions? These amazing finds came from Pasta & Co. in Seattle. (those hats remind me of Fruit-Stripe gum - remember that?)

Pasta and Chicken in Parmesan Cream Sauce

Chopped grilled chicken and pasta in a basic cream sauce. Saute a minced clove of garlic in 2 tablespoons of butter, add about 1 cup of heavy cream and about a 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese and bring to a simmer. Let sauce cool to thicken. Re-heat and toss with cooked and drained pasta and the chicken. Pepper to taste and garnish with parsley.

Baby Bow Ties with Veggies in Parmesan Cream Sauce

Using up some freezer veggies for this dish. Baby bow tie pasta in Parmesan cream sauce. Cook and drain the pasta and steam the veggies so all are al dente. Melt two tablespoons of butter over medium heat, add 1/2 cup of heavy cream and simmer until a little thickened. Add 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan. Salt and pepper the sauce to taste and stir in pasta and veggies.

"The Dish"

Italian sausage and tomatoes in cream sauce over penne pasta. We simply call it "the dish." My friend first served it up a few years ago and it's a favorite. This is a variation of an Epicurious recipe.

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 medium onion thinly sliced

4 cloves of minced garlic

1 pound of Italian sausage - sweet, not hot, casings removed

1/2 cup of white wine - the drier the better

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1 pound of penna pasta

1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

Saute onions in olive oil until slightly brown, adding the garlic when the onions become translucent. Add sausage and crumble fine, I use a potato masher. I like to see a little caramelization on the bottom of the pan during this phase. Add wine and cook until liquid mostly evaporates. Add a can of tomatoes, liquid and all, and simmer until liquid reduces a bit. Add cream and simmer until sauce thickens. You can turn off the heat and let the sauce sit to help it thicken, too. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cook and drain pasta. Warm up the sauce again if you turned it off. Serve sauce over pasta garnished with Parmesan cheese and parsley (chopped fresh or dried).

Batty Pasta

Halloween-themed pasta all cooked up. The shapes always look so much better before cooking. I have to say this was the first time I had ever had black-colored pasta. How'd they do that? One of the ingredients listed was cuttlefish. Did they use cuttlefish ink? And I think because I read the ingredients, the pasta had a fishy taste for me.

Penne Pasta with Prosciutto

Penne pasta with prosciutto taste test last night. This is a Schwan's item, and it was passable. Of course, making this from scratch probably wouldn't have taken much longer than the 9-10 minutes in the microwave for this "instant" dish. And, it would have probably been better if I hadn't messed up with the Parmesan cheese. The directions said to sprinkle it on top after cooking for 7 minutes. I clipped open the bag of cheese and it came out in a frozen lump. I tried to spread it around, but it became a globby mess.