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Penne Mediterranean

October 12, 2016 By Deanna Piercy 8 Comments

There is a fabulous local Italian restaurant and bar that is pretty much our home away from home. The food is delicious, each dish made individually. They don’t even have a microwave. And the bar/lounge area is our version of Cheers – “where everybody knows your name”. When the bartenders are all on your Facebook friends list, there’s a good chance you spend a lot of time there. 😉

Anyway, one of my favorite dishes on their menu is something called “Penne Mediterranean”. It’s a rich, creamy pasta dish with sun dried tomatoes and spinach. And quite spicy. Yum! Someday I’ll talk someone into giving me the recipe but in the meantime I’ve come up with something close enough to tide me over between visits to the restaurant. I rather hesitate to even explain how I make this because it’s so very vague. If you are an experienced, intuitive cook, give it a whirl.

Penne Mediterranean

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Penne Mediterranean

First off, I should tell you that I didn’t actually have any penne pasta in the pantry today so I substituted rotini. I like the look of penne and the way the sauce fills the little tubes of pasta but it all honesty, it really doesn’t matter. So, here goes:

Start with a couple of tablespoons of butter (remember, in Dee’s kitchen we do NOT use that margarine crap) in a large skillet. Melt over medium high heat and as soon as it is sizzling, add some finely diced onion. How much? Whatever floats your boat. I used about 2 tablespoons worth, I would guess. Stir it around a bit and add some seasonings. I used basil, lemon pepper, garlic salt, black pepper and (you know what’s coming) Creole seasoning.

I like to add seasonings at this point and then adjust according to taste later on. Stir a bit then add half and half, heavy cream and/or milk. It’s like making alfredo sauce. It’s super yummy with all cream but also VERY rich. I use mostly half and half, a little cream and then milk to obtain the quantity needed. I also added about 3-4 tablespoons of cream cheese because I had some that needed to be used. Cream cheese will thicken up a thinner sauce if you use a larger proportion of milk rather than cream. Simmer the sauce slowly, stirring often, until it starts to thicken up. Oh, I should have mentioned that all the while this sauce-making is going on, you should be bringing a big pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

When the sauce is almost thick enough, taste and adjust the seasonings. I like it spicy so I always end up adding more Creole seasoning (you can use a pinch of cayenne pepper if you don’t have Creole seasoning but put it on your next shopping list – it’s a MUST in my kitchen). Then add some chopped sun-dried tomatoes and frozen spinach. How much? That’s up to you. Hey, this is food, not chemistry class.

Meanwhile, drain the cooked (al dente, please) pasta and make sure the oven is cranked up to 400 degrees. As soon as the frozen spinach is no longer frozen and the tomatoes have softened up a bit, mix the sauce mixture with the hot, cooked pasta and pour into an oven-safe casserole dish. Top with grated cheese. Use what you like and what you have on hand. Tonight I used a combination of Jarlsburg, raw-milk cheddar and some kind of spicy pepper cheese I bought at a health food store. If you are buying cheese specifically for this dish, I’d probably go with a combination of jack and mozzarella. Put a nice, thick layer on top of the casserole. I also topped that with some Panko bread crumbs but that’s totally optional. Oh, I also used some Parmesan with the other cheeses. Then sprinkle the top with paprika and black pepper, put in the hot oven and cook until hot and bubbly, the cheese is melted and the bread crumbs lightly browned.
Serve with garlic bread and a green salad.

*Note: I would normally use some fresh garlic in this just after adding the onion but the truth of the matter is, I was lazy tonight and didn’t chop any. I just used more garlic salt. It really is better with the garlic so if you try this, don’t be lazy like me.

~~~~~

Creole Seasoning

Penne Pasta

This has been on my wishlist for ages:

Le Creuset

Cheers

 

Originally posted on my old blog, Dee’s Kitchen, January 7, 2010

NOTE:

I’m going through recipes from my old blog and reposting them. One of these days I may update the photos and recipe formatting. Or maybe not.

Cooking With Dee

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Filed Under: Dee's Kitchen, Recipes

« Menu Plan Monday ~ October 10, 2016
Timely Tunes ~ October 13, 2016 »

Comments

  1. Rosalyn says

    January 8, 2010 at 12:15 am

    I make someething similar to that and use fresh, raw mozzerella cheese. I like that cheese! Oh, and it has artichokes in it. And speaking of butter (and we were, weren't we?) I picked up some goat butter the other day. REALLY good!

    Reply
  2. Deanna says

    January 8, 2010 at 10:40 am

    David loves artichokes; I should try that next time. And yes, we are always talking about butter. Where did you get goat butter???

    Reply
  3. mommy22ss says

    January 12, 2010 at 2:04 pm

    Sounds yummy! I think I'll put this in our Menu plan for this week. Thanks!

    Reply
  4. Melanie says

    October 12, 2016 at 11:08 am

    Sounds delicious! I make my own Creole seasoning sans all the salt though. The brand mentioned has 350 mg sodium per 1/4 tsp! I’ll have to give your recipe a try in the near future – thanks!

    Reply
    • Deanna Piercy says

      October 12, 2016 at 2:32 pm

      That’s a good point about the sodium content. I use the spicy version (which is harder to find) and it has less sodium. I also have their no-salt version. I’d love to see your recipe, though.

      Reply
  5. Laura says

    October 12, 2016 at 3:02 pm

    I’m glad you’re reposting your recipes. I really enjoy reading them. I’m adding this to my must try recipes. I’ve had a similar dutch oven on my wish list for awhile too.

    Reply
    • Deanna Piercy says

      October 12, 2016 at 3:55 pm

      I’m having fun rediscovering old recipes myself. Eventually I want to organize them all in some fashion…just haven’t decided how.

      As for the dutch oven – I’ve drooled over it for years. The yellow one in my blog photo is an old Descoware piece that my mom gave me. It was either a wedding gift or one of the items they ended up with back when they managed some apartments as newlyweds. People left in the middle of the night, leaving behind a lot of stuff. It’s enameled cast iron like Le Creuset but it’s made in Belgium. I love the way it cooks but am not crazy about the color.

      Reply
  6. Tori says

    October 13, 2016 at 8:20 am

    Yum!

    Reply

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I’m Dee, a Francophile with a hippie heart, trying to create a beautiful life in the country while dreaming of Paris.

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