Macaroni Grill's Penne Rustica

First off, I must say Happy New Year to everyone!!!  I know I haven't posted in a while but I was kind of "off this grid" during the holidays, especially while my daughter was here visiting from college.  I feel like this is going to be such a wonderful and exciting year for everyone!  Happy cooking :)

This is (another) one of my favorite pastas!!! When I go to the Macaroni Grill I cannot resist this scrumptious masterpiece.  It is the sauce that makes is soooooo good.  A lot of the other pastas I have posted have had some spice to them, this one is different.  The sauce is just so creamy and it is the particular type of wine that is used in making it.
I got this recipe from food.com.  I feel so lucky to be in this age of technology where at the touch of a finger you can get a recipe for your favorite dish or find something different to try.  This is part of what drives me to do this blog.

Any how, let's get to this...

There are 2 parts to the recipe:  The Gratinata sauce and the Penne Rustica.

For the Gratinata sauce sauce you will need:

2 tsp. butter

2 tbsp. minced garlic (fresh)

1 tsp. dijon mustard

1 tsp. dill

1 tsp. chopped rosemary

1/2 a bottle of dry or fine Marsala wine (not sweet)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

8 cups heavy whipping cream

*I feel the urge to mention that I try to be very conservative in the amounts of some of the ingredients in most of my posts however I really believe that everyone has their own tastes and I quite often use larger amounts of all of everything listed except the wine (ummm some times...lol) and the cream.

For the Penne Rustica you will need:

18 shrimp or more, peeled and deveined

2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1 box of penne pasta

either 3 tsp. chopped pimiento or as I used this time red bell pepper

6 ounces butter (yes, I know that's a lot)

1 tsp. chopped shallot

1 pinch salt and pepper

1 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 tsp. paprika

6 sprigs fresh rosemary

*A couple things to mention... 

The original recipe calls for 1 ounce pancetta.  If you can find it or have it try it out, if not, it is still great without it.  

If you used frozen shrimp (as I did this time) make sure you defrost them first and drain out all of the water/juices.  This is very important as it can ruin your rustica if you don't (I speak from experience here hahahha)

Same with the chicken and I have been using organic chicken breast that I usually get from Sprouts (usually at the same price 3.99lb.) and it is soooo much better but I didn't have time to make a run and this is the next best thing.  

I strongly, strongly recommend that you use fresh spices as I have learned it makes a big difference.  Once you start you will never go back :)

We will start by making the sauce.  Let's start by first prepping 

Mince about 2 tsp. of garlic.

Finely chop 1 tsp. of dill.  Obviously I am using more lol.  I suggest that you only use the fine leaves (if you will) of the dill by running your thumb and finger along the main stem.  Discard the stems and finely chop the leaves.

Same with the rosemary; remove the stems and chop the leaves, about 1 tsp.

In a hot pan (deep enough to hold the sauce and rustica) add 2 tsp. of butter.

Add approximately 2tbs. of minced garlic and saute for 30 seconds to 1 minute until soft and slightly brown.

Add about 1 tsp. of dill and 1 tsp. of rosemary.

Saute for about a minute.

Add 1/2 of the bottle of Marsala wine, cook on high and reduce by one-third.  The first time I made this I wasn't sure what it meant to reduce.  If you are like me :) click on the word reduce as I provided a link explaining what it is in detail.  This is a critical step in this recipe.  You know how on Top Chef they talk about "layering the flavors"?  Well this is what we are doing here.

This take a while so be patient with it.  This is at first.

Now it is reduced by 1/3.

Now we are ready to add about 1 tsp. of dijon mustard.

And about 1 tsp. of dill

Add about 1/4 tsp. cayenne

Whisk together.

Now we can add the 8 cups (yes I said 8 cups) of heavy whipping cream.

*I use heavy whipping cream in a lot of my sauces and it is a little pricey. I prefer to use the horizon organic but have done some comparison shopping and here is what I have found.  At the Super Target (don't you love Super Target) they have it at the best price.  They used to have the 32 oz. horizon at a good price but they haven't had it for a while.  But, they do have the 64 oz. Market Pantry at the really really good price; $3.99 I think, so you might want to check it out :).

Ok, whisk together the sauce and cook on medium high heat and reduce by 1/2.

This is what mine looks like reduced.  Now this will take some time so while you let yours reduce we can start making the 2nd part, the penne rustica...

Let's do our prep work for this part...

Let's dice our shallots.

Cut our chicken into bite sized pieces.

In another hot pan melt your 6 ounces of butter.

Add the tsp or so of chopped shallots.

Saute them until soft and slightly brown.

*I made a mistake when making it this time.  Since I used pre-cooked shrimp, I should have added the chicken first and then the shrimp.  When I used uncooked shrimp I add the shrimp first as the original recipe suggests.  Because the pictures are what they are I will post it as if they were not precooked.
Next time I make this I am going to pre-cook both the chicken and the shrimp separately before adding them to the rustic....I will let you know how it goes.

Now you can add the shrimp.  Remember, if your shrimp are frozen, defrost them first and squeeze all the juice out and pat them dry.  It waters down the sauce in the end if you don't; not good.
Cook the shrimp until pink (if they were raw).  As you can see from the picture I didn't exactly stick to the 18 shrimp...lol

Add your chicken

Add salt and pepper. Cook mixing thoroughly.

This is what mine looks like cooked.  But, while yours is cooking you can start cooking your pasta...

Bring a pot of water with a sprinkle of salt to a boil.

Once it is boiling we can add the penne pasta.  Let it cook until soft and tender.

We should start pre-heating our oven to 475 degrees

By now your sauce should be reduced by 1/2 and your chicken cooked so now we can...

Add the chicken and shrimp to the sauce.  Mix around.

Add 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese and simmer until it thickens.

In the mean time, let's check on our pasta...

When your pasta is done drain, but do not rinse (we want to keep the starchiness to better adhere the sauce).  In a large baking dish put your cooked pasta.

Mix in your chicken and sauce.

Add slices of red pepper or pimentos and sprigs of rosemary.  Don't worry, the rosemary is another layer of flavor.  You won't actually eat these sprigs.  You can remove them after it is baked.

Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese.
This bad boy is ready for the final step...the oven.  Place in preheated oven at 475 degrees and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

15 minutes later...this is what mine looks like.  Remove the sprigs of rosemary (you could actually eat them if you want but I didn't want to scare anyone), mix and serve.  I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do.  After making the first time you should adjust the amount of each ingredients to your liking but the first time I would suggest keeping it pretty close.  Also if your thinking of making a smaller version, although I don't know why you would as it is so good reheated for leftovers, I haven't gotten the right amount of ingredients that come out as good as the original.  Here is a printable version of this recipe.

Printable Recipe