Romano's Macaroni Grill Penne Rustica

Sandylee's Note:

The sauce is the key to this recipe....HEAVY CREAM, PARMESAN CHEESE, WINE, etc. with CHICKEN & SHRIMP, cooking the penne pasta is the easy part. This recipe makes an ample amount, and too tricky for me to attempt to scale it down. I am posting it to take advantage of Recipezaar's calculations to reduce a recipe. I'm not sure how much this recipe feeds, but I am going to guess at 8-10 servings.

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 15

Gratinata sauce use 4 1/2 cups

• 2 teaspoons butter
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon dill
• 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
• 1 cup marsala wine
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 8 cups heavy cream

Penne Rustica

• 1 ounce pancetta or 1 ounce bacon
• 18 shrimp , peeled and deveined
• 12 ounces grilled chicken breasts , sliced
• 16 -24 ounces penne pasta , cooked
• 3 teaspoons chopped pimiento
• 6 ounces butter
• 1 teaspoon chopped shallot
• 1 pinch salt and pepper
• 1 cup parmesan cheese
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 6 sprigs fresh rosemary

Directions:

1. For Gratinata Sauce: Saute butter, garlic, and rosemary until garlic begins to brown.
2. Add Marsala wine and reduce by one-third.
3. Add remaining ingredients, reduce by half of the original volume.
4. Set aside.
5. For Penne Rustica: Saute pancetta until it begins to brown.
6. Add butter, shallots, and shrimp.
7. Cook until shrimp are evenly pink but still translucent.
8. Add chicken, salt, pepper, and mix thoroughly.
9. Add gratinata sauce and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese.
10. Simmer until sauce thickens.
11. In a large bowl, combine shrimp& chicken mixture with the cooked pasta.
12. Pour into a large casserole dish or roaster.
13. Top with remaining cheese, pimientos and sprinkle with paprika.
14. Bake at 475 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.
15. Remove and garnish with fresh rosemary sprig.

Reviews

[fairestoneofall]

I found this recipe on another website and have made it several times. It is perfect and feeds quite the crowd. I always make 1.5 the sauce then split it and put one casserole in the freezer for later since it's so time consuming. LOVE IT THOUGH!!

[Mom of 3 hungry boys]

I also made this for my BF and it was way too heavy. So this time I am cutting down on the butter and cream. I also tossed some fresh spinach into it and YUMMY.

[rzimm001]

I just finished making this recipe. It was delicious and I highly recommend it. I gave the recipe only four stars however because the proportions were a bit off. As some have mentioned there is WAY too much butter called for. I had to let some of the butter drain off while it was cooling down. Honestly I would probably use half the amount called for. Some people recommended not using as much cream which is definitely accurate. I made four servings which was plenty for four people, and I used 2 cups of cream. That was fine, but I could have gotten away with only 1 3/4 cups cream. Recipe took about two hours to make and cost me a little under $40 for four servings.