November 2, 2012

Parmesan, Onions and Mushroom Pasta with Peas and Truffle Oil

I’ve never met a pasta I didn’t like.

You?

Tomato sauce. Alfredo. Truffles. Pesto. Cheese. Cream. Top a bowl of pasta with just about anything – I will eat it.

Oh yes, I will eat it.

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But, that doesn’t mean I don’t love a GREAT pasta dish. I had one of the best ever just a week or so ago at Scarpetta in Beverly Hills. Thinly sliced black truffles topped a flavorful yet simply dressed pasta. It didn’t hurt that the chef came out and shaved the truffles onto the bowl himself…and that he was as handsome as he was talented.

But back to the pasta at hand.

A thick, creamy parmesan sauce, tossed with caramelized onions, garlic, sliced mushrooms and baby peas top this bowtie pasta. As a final step, the sauce is drizzled with truffle oil.

Oh, the truffle oil.

Sure, you could omit it, and still have a wonderful dish. But adding it? You’ve amped up a simple dish to a level of extraordinary. It still takes about 30 minutes to pull together, but that flavor?

No one will know it didn’t take you hours.

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Parmesan, Onions and Mushroom Pasta with Peas and Truffle Oil

Rating: 5

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 5-6 Servings

Ingredients

1 pound Bowtie Pasta (I used Barilla Plus)
3 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
3 tablespoons All Purpose Flour
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Olive Oil or Butter for sauteeing
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup frozen peas
Salt & Pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon Truffle Oil

Instructions

Prepare Bowtie Pasta according to directions.
Meanwhile, combine the butter and flour in a saucepan over low heat. Stir frequently, making a roux. Cook for 5-10 minutes. Do not burn. Add in cream and milk, stir until smooth. Add in shredded cheese. Continue stirring until well combined and melted. Allow to simmer over low heat.
At the same time, in a separate pan, saute onion in butter or oil for 5-10 minutes, until onion become transparent and lightly browned. Add mushrooms and cook an additional 5 minutes. Add garlic and stir to combine. Allow to simmer for 3 minutes, then remove from heat and add to sauce. Add frozen peas and truffle oil. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes or more.
Drain bowtie pasta, top with sauce. Season with salt and pepper as desired. Enjoy!

I made this dish as my contribution to the Barilla Plus Virtual Dinner Party. Angie, Paula, and Brandi were my partners in these festivities, and I am sure their dishes are every bit as awesome as mine. (Well, maybe not QUITE as awesome, because I am hard to beat. Hehe!)

So, Barilla Plus. You may wonder a bit about it. It’s a multi-grain pasta, a little different than the others. Barilla is committed to helping maintain a healthy lifestyle while not sacrificing taste. Their Barilla PLUS pastas are premium, multi-grain pasta rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and fiber with the same great taste you expect from traditional pasta.

So that’s good, right?

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Know what else? Barilla has changed up their packaging and expanded their Blue Box family to include 2 new product lines – Veggie Pasta & White Fiber Pasta! These new products will feature the new Blue packaging, along with their Whole Grain and Classic Blue Box pastas. The Plus Pasta will stay in their signature yellow box…easy to identify!

As a celebration of this new packaging, Barilla has also launched a new gaming app for iPhone and Droid users called “Capture the Pasta,” that offers some incredible prizing. The game is a virtual scavenger hunt that encourages users to “capture” the virtual pasta shapes near their location and share with friends for a chance to win one of 1,000 instant prizes, including an Italian-inspired trip in the US or the Grand Prize of a trip to Italy! Take a look!

You also need to check out what my friends made…