Two pounds of pasta, and red, white and green sauces, in under 30 — this menu ROCKS!
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 40 min |
| Prep: | 15 min |
| Cook: | 25 min |
| Yield: | 6 to 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 pounds penne rigate pasta
- 2 cups Italian flat-leaf parsley
- 1 (3-ounce) jar or 1/4 cup pignoli nuts
- 1 clove garlic, cracked away from skin
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper
- 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes,
- 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
- Salt and pepper
- 20 leaves fresh basil, torn or shredded
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1/2 cup cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped sage leaves
- 3/4 pound gorgonzola cheese, cut into pieces
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Put large pot of water on to boil for penne. Salt boiling water and cook penne to al dente.
- In food processor, combine parsley, pignoli, garlic. Process and stream in about 1/4 cup evoo. Remove parsley paste to a large serving bowl. Stir in pepper and grated cheese. Add remaining evoo, stir to combine.
- Heat a medium pot on stove top over medium low to medium heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, garlic and onion for the tomato basil sauce. Let onions cook with garlic slowly over 15 minutes, be careful not to brown onions — just keep an eye on the hat and stir the onions frequently. After 15 minutes, stir in tomatoes and raise heat to warm tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in basil and wilt it into the sauce. Remove sauce from heat. When ready to serve, place sauce in the bottom of a large serving bowl to toss with hot pasta.
- In a second medium pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour and cook 1 minute. Whisk in wine, reduce 15 to 20 seconds. Whisk in stock, then cream. Add sage, then pieces of cheese. Stir until cheese melts into sauce. Simmer over low heat until ready to serve. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Place 1/3 drained pasta in bowl with pesto, 1/3 with tomato basil sauce and 1/3 in another serving dish. Combine pasta with pesto, then coat and toss the second bowl of pasta with red sauce, to the last bowl, pour the gorgonzola sauce down over the pasta and toss.
- Serve the three pastas family style or buffet style, immediately.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 1038 |
| Total Fat | 53 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Carbohydrates | 106 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 9 g |
| Sugar | 11 g |
| Protein | 37 g |
| Cholesterol | 73 mg |
| Sodium | 1051 mg |
Reviews
I made this for a party of 15 people & it ended up being plenty of food w/leftovers (I did make a 4th sauce, a meat sauce. The gorgonzola was the biggest hit. I don’t like sage & didn’t have any fresh herbs besides basil so I used a little bit of dried oregano instead.
I read a review that said it was hard keeping everything straight while making all 3 sauces at the same time. I knew that would be an issue for me too so I made 1 sauce at a time.
I ran my immersion blender through my tomato basil sauce…I like a smoother texture to my sauce.
Because I was having so many people over, I didn’t want to be cooking the day of the party so I made the gorgonzola & tomato basil sauces the night before & then warmed them up in crock pots. I made the parsley pesto about an hour before the party started.
The tomato basil sauce is much better the next day & the day after. The gorgonzola sauce was my favorite.
I made these three for a party I threw – there were 20 people there. I made this, a California Cous Couse salad and some Rosemary chicken breasts. Was plenty of food for the crowd!
Tried the sauces exactly as written. Instead of pasta of any form…I used the sauce on ravioli. Tremendous surprise. Will use same sauce on lasagna. Should be delicious! Annie,Fremont,CA
I made the tomato-basil sauce tonight- so tasty, easy and I had plenty of leftovers for another easy weeknight meal this week! Can’t wait to try the other two sauces!
it was good
The pesto sauce was soooooo easy to make and it was good. The pasta bar was a great idea – I used it for a Las Vegas themed New Year’s Eve party!
I made the tomato basil sauce tonight and it was delicious! I may never buy jar sauce again. The only change I made was instead of using crushed tomatoes, I used one 14oz can of tomato sauce with the 14oz can diced tomatoes.
The dishes she made on this show were healthy, quick, and didn’t take alot of effort.
The entire dinner was a huge success, they loved the Gorgonzola Cheese sauce. I kept with penne for the pasta for the Tomato-Basil and the Parsley Pesto, but felt that the Gorgonzola needed a little color and variation to fill out the table, so I substituted in Spinnach Fettucinni instead, it was great! I do like the idea of adding shrimp to the gorgonzola to help cut the strength of the cheese a little,or even just to add even more color to the food, but it was still wonderful, and HEALTHY. Keep the wonderful recipes coming!
I made these recipes for a party of 20 people. Everyone seemed to like it. I do have to say that making three dishes was a lot of work to keep my eye on everything. I followed everyone’s advice and used less Gorgonzola. I also used Gorgonzola spread because my store didn’t have any other kind. I would heat the pesto sauce a little too. It was too cold even when mixed with hot pasta. Overall everyone like the pastas.