Baked Four-Cheese Pasta

Totally yummy, and very easy. Man, what a difference it makes to cook your pasta in a combination of stock and cream, versus boiling it in just water. If you have the right kind of cookware, this can also be a one-pot dish, which is also very nice.

Baked Four-Cheese Pasta
Cook's Country

1 small onion, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 c stock
1 c heavy cream
3/4 lb penne rigate or ziti
1/2 c Parmesan, grated
1 c peas, frozen
1 c shredded Italian 4-cheese blend

Preheat oven to 500. Cook onion and garlic in large nonstick, skillet over medium-high heat until soft, about 5 minutes. Add stock, cream, pasta and 1/2 tsp salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.

Off heat, stir in Parmesan and peas and season with salt and pepper. Transfer to 2-quart casserole and sprinkle with shredded cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and spotty brown, about 5 minutes. Serve.

Note: my picture will look different from yours because I didn't actually have Italian-blend cheese in the fridge at the time. Even though I went out expressly to buy Italian-blend cheese, I picked up and purchased -- probably out of habit -- Mexican blend cheese. Still, a lovely gooey combination.

I might consider for future variations maybe adding some saffron to the stock and cream as the noodles cook.

Comments

Susy G said…

That sounds delicious! I am definitely going to try this one!

March 30, 2010 at 8:00 AM

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