if you recall from a couple of weeks ago, lorien and joanna, from get along and go, and i decided to put together a bit of a blogger challenge. my first challenge was a success (hooray!) and now we get to see what lorien came up with for my challenge: make baked five cheese pasta and add in some of her own additions. here’s how it went. (and i’m super excited for my next challenge!)
Welcome to the second post in the Blogger Challenge between Get Along and Go and Foxtrot Press. Two weeks ago we challenged Erika to making Joanna’s cranberry compote, she used the cranberry compote as a spread on what looked like to be the most amazing grilled cheese ever. She then challenged us to make Al Forno’s Baked Five Cheese Pasta and to include our own additions.
If you live in Providence, you then know that:
1) If it’s from Al Forno, it’s going to amazing
2) It’s a bit intimating to make a recipe from Al Forno because you’re afraid of not living up to your tastebud’s expectations.
But it turned out to be so easy to make and sooooo delicious to eat. It wasn’t (surprisingly) heavy or overly salty (don’t be afaird to add salt to flavor, it enhances all the flavors), and it was perfectly cheesy. I added bacon, roasted cauliflower and peas. I sautéed the bacon while I roasted the cauliflower (with a dash of olive oil, salt, pepper and dried mustard at 425 degrees) and boiled the pasta. It was all ready relatively the same time, ready to be tossed with the cream, chicken stock and the cheeses. The cauliflower added a nice depth, the peas added a sweetness and bacon… everything is better with bacon.
Here’s the recipe:
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup chicken stock
salt to flavor
1/2 cup parmesan reggiano
1/2 cup pecorino romano
1/4 gorgonzola
2 tbsp marscapone
1/2 cup mozzarella, chopped
1 lb pasta shells
an addition of your choosing (corn, bacon, tomatoes, pumpkin, etc.)
Preheat oven to 500º.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the heavy cream, chicken stock, salt and five cheeses. Cook pasta until par boiled (about 5-7 minutes). Strain pasta and mix into the heavy cream, chicken stock and cheese mixture. Mix in your additional ingredient at this point. Put the mixed pasta into a shallow casserole dish (stoneware is best!) and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the sauce bubbles (when the pasta gets a little crispy is usually the best time to remove it). Serve while hot and enjoy!
I paired the Baked Five Cheese Pasta with a kale and clementine salad (one of my favorite new salads – kale with a squeeze of lemon, clementine and pieces of clementine) and altogether it was the perfect meal for a blistery, cold winter night. We had more than one helping and it’s going to be even better as leftovers. Can’t wait to make again!
The next challenge: We are challenging Erika to make a un-Valentine’s Day card for Valentine’s Day. Since she is such a great designer, we would love to see her version of a Valentine’s Day card but since Joanna and I are not super romantic, we challenge Erika to make a un-Valentine’s Day card - a card that can be sent to anyone from a bf/gf, a friend, anyone who you want to show some love to on Valentine’s Day. We are also challenging her to make it into a printable template, one that we can all print out and use. Looking forward to see what she does! We’ll post her response on getalongandgo.com on Thursday, February 7th.
if only there were a button we could press and it could appear on our tables… someone needs to make that happen. i’m so glad i got to meet you in real life!!! :D
This pasta is always part of our order when we go to Al Forno’s… It’s so delicious! I want to try it with your additions, it looks like a great combination of flavors.
hi there! my name is erika and i’m a graphic designer and letterpress printer. foxtrot press & studio is where i not only share my process and portfolio but also my inspirations and thoughts. i’m on a mission to make the world a lovelier place through design.
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Love it, looks so good Lorien! Can’t wait to see those Valentine’s Day cards.
This looks so good! I wish I could pull it out of the over right now because I’m starving and way too tired to cook.
if only there were a button we could press and it could appear on our tables… someone needs to make that happen. i’m so glad i got to meet you in real life!!! :D
This pasta is always part of our order when we go to Al Forno’s… It’s so delicious! I want to try it with your additions, it looks like a great combination of flavors.