Penne Pasta With Tomatoes, Herbs and Blue Cheese

Submitted by Simply Chris

"Absolutely fantastic pasta dish. This dish is always a hit. I've been making it for about 10 years and I still get lots of requests for it. It is based on a recipe I found in "The California Wine Country Cookbook II" that I purchased on a visit to the Kenwood Vineyards. I usually serve with a Cesear Salad and Bruschetta."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 8-10

ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 28 ounces canned diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1⁄2 cup dry red wine
• 1 lb penne pasta, cooked al dente (I use whole wheat pasta)
• 8 ounces blue cheese, half crumbled finely,the other half crumbled into larger pieces (I use reduced fat blue cheese)
• 1⁄2 cup chopped fresh basil
• salt
• pepper

directions

1. Saute the diced onion in olive oil over medium heat until the onions are translucent.
2. Add the minced garlic and saute one minute longer.
3. Add the tomatoes with juices, red wine and dried oregano to the onion-garlic mixture and simmer until most of the juices are gone, about 8-10 minutes.
4. Add the salt and pepper to taste and reduce heat to low.
5. Simmer covered, on very low heat, while the Penne Pasta is cooking, about 8 minutes.
6. Add the crumbled blue cheese and half of the fresh basil to the sauce mixture.
7. Stir until the sauce has become creamy.
8. Pour the tomato sauce over the hot cooked pasta and toss with the remaining fresh basil.
9. Spoon pasta into serving bowl and garnish with whole fresh basil leaves.

Reviews

[Soobeeoz]

I made this for three people last week, halving the ingredients and using 500 grams of penne rigate. I also added a heaped tablespoon or two of tomato paste and a little sugar. It would have been better had I used the full quantity of sauce. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed it very much. I will make it again and post a rating which I anticipate will be at least a 4 and probably a 5.

 

[berry cook]

Excellent taste and simple to make! I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand and it turned out wonderful! I used crushed tomatoes in place of the diced tomatoes, red wine vinegar and grape juice (50/50) in place of the dry red wine and fusilli rice pasta instead of the penne. I will be making this again when I have all of the ingredients on hand!

 

[moonk321]

Great recipe! I had point reyes blue cheese which worked well this recipe. Red wine, garlic, basil and blue cheese complemented each other beautifully. I prepared with blue cheese/roasted pecan/asian pear salad (recipe from food network.com) which went very well with the pasta. Highly recommended!

 

[Sous Chef Bentley]

Made this for Sous Chef Bentley for Valentine's, I'm her executive chef ; ) As advertised, absolutely fantastic. I made this as written. This was a brillant recipe, simple to prepare, easy to cook and it has great depth of flavour and beautiful texture. I used our own home canned tomatoes. The blue cheese is a wonderful complement to the acidity of the tomatoes. I retained 1 cup of pasta water, used about 1/3 when mixing the pasta into the sauce. Added the rest of the water to the cooling pasta and then refrigerated it. Reheated two days later with a generous helping of garlic infused olive oil and it was magnificent! Definitely a keeper, will definitely make this again. Thank you for posting!

 

[394mm493]

We made this exactly as written (except that we used full fat Stilton blue cheese). It was a huge hit with the family, and much to our surprise the pickiest eater was the first one done! There is no doubt that this will make many repeat appearances at our table, especially during the summer when fresh basil is readily available. Thanks, Simply Chris!