The Dish That Gets Dressed Up For You

Good evening everyone! It was a beautiful Wednesday here in the greater Des Moines metro area. A nice change of pace from the rain/hot/rain pattern we've been on! With it being Wednesday, that means Maggie takes over the kitchen for the evening. Her recipe tonight falls into a nice category of interesting flavor combinations and simple to prepare.A perfect blend for a nice evening when all you want to do is get out and about and enjoy the day. I'll turn the keyboard over to Maggie now and let her share tonight's dish:

The Recipe: Creamy Mushroom Bow Ties
Original Recipe Found In: Taste of Home Ultimate Five Ingrdient Recipes


What You'll Need:

6 Cups Bow Tie Pasta
1 Pound Sliced Mushrooms
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Package Garlic-Herb Cheese Spread (Roughly 4.4 ounces)
1/4 Cup Chicken Broth

(Tyler's note: I don't know about you, but I count 7 ingredients in that list...It's supposed to be a 5 ingredient recipe!)

Dinner just waiting to happen!

Good evening everybody!  Just a little back story on where I got this cookbook. This cookbook was a gift from my mother for my bridal shower, mind you this was about a month before we started the blog.  In the book was a little description "here's to many hours in the kitchen!"  I asked her if that meant I should start cooking more - she replied "maybe."  So now, several months later, here's to 'from just boiling water to grilling salmon'.


I started this evening by boiling a pot of water for my pasta.  Once that was to a boil, I added my bow tie pasta, or as Barilla called them "farfalle", which is mostly the same thing as bow tie pasta, just a fancier name.

As my pasta cooked, I started to warm a skillet with my two tablespoons of butter.  After the butter had melted, I added a pound of mushrooms.  I looked down at my skillet and it was overflowing with mushrooms - I immediately panicked.  I asked Tyler if I should take out some; he told me they would cook down, so the volume would decrease.  Going with what he said, I kept tossing my mushrooms until they were softened and sauteed (which is probably my new favorite food item: sauteed mushrooms - love 'em!) (Tyler's note: I'd also like to point out that they did reduce in size greatly. If your skillet seems to be spilling over with mushrooms, let the heat cook the moisture out of them before you panic and remove them from the recipe. They will get smaller as the temperature gets hotter.)

It looks like a scene from "When Mushrooms Attack!" but they do reduce in size

At this point, the pasta should be done cooking.  Simply drain into a colander and allow to drip dry. Then, pour into a large serving dish.  To the sauteed mushrooms, I added my chicken broth and garlic-herb cheese spread.  When we bought our cheese spread, I assumed one package was 4.4 ounces - our package was 6.5 ounces.  I just cut the spread into fourths and took three of those into the mushrooms. 

 Next, I stirred the spread and broth into our mushrooms.  If the mixture looks soupy (as pictured above), relax, it will thicken up in a few minutes.  As the mixture becomes evenly coated with the mushrooms, toss with the pasta and serve!


The End Result:

As I mentioned before, I LOVE mushrooms - I really can't have enough of them.  This recipe was heaven for me.  The garlic-herb spread was absolutely delicious with the pasta and the mushrooms.  Instead of cutting the spread into three-fourths, I would have taken the whole container in the dish.  This would have made the dish more thick and even more of a kick.  And the bonus of this dish - I was done in 20 minutes.  It's simple, fast, and, if you're a vegetarian, you can have all the flavor, without skimping on certain food items.

Thanks Maggie. Tonight's recipe was incredibly simple both to make, and on your palette. The cheese garlic spread provided all of the flavoring (admittedly, more could have been added for an even greater flavor) while the mushrooms provided a nice earthy flavor and change of texture to keep things interesting. At about 20 minutes of preparation time, you simply can't beat a easy to make, easy to enjoy meal like this one. Nicely done by my better half.

That's all we have for you tonight. I'm back in the kitchen tomorrow night making a dish that I have not made before (and have not eaten in years). It should be an interesting evening, regardless of how everything turns out. Stop back tomorrow evening around the same time to see what I've got cooking. Until then,

~Cheers