This is definitely one of those recipes that can be versatile enough to accommodate your family’s individual preferences. You could serve it alongside any type of meat, such as grilled steak, chicken or salmon, pork roast or chops, or even baked chicken.  You could also consider adding ground beef or cooked chicken directly into this one pot meal. If you do add ground beef, just brown it before adding the onions, at the very beginning of the recipe.

You could also add veggies to this dish, making it a more complete meal. Some tasty additions would be pearl onions (in addition to those already in the recipe), shredded or baby carrots, broccoli or cauliflower florets, diced bell peppers (green, red, orange or yellow) or shredded cabbage.

 

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons butter

2-3 sweet onions I like to use 2 smaller onions

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce, omit if vegetarian

1 cup red wine

8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

Salt + pepper to taste

2 cloves garlic, minced or grated

3 cups low sodium chicken broth + 3/4 cups water

1 pound of your favorite short cut pasta (use gluten free if needed)

2 bay leaves

2-3 fresh thyme sprigs

1¼ cups heavy cream

Pinch of cayenne pepper

6 ounces gruyere cheese shredded

1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese crumbled (optional)

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat a large high-sided Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the butter. Add the onions + brown sugar and cook about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened. At this point you want to slowly add the Worcestershire sauce and the wine, let them cook into the onions, add more and continue to cook. Do this until the wine is gone or the onions are caramelized to your liking. Make sure the wine has evaporated.

Preheat the broiler to high.

Toss the mushrooms and garlic in with the caramelized onions, season with salt + pepper, cook another 3-4 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft.

Pour in the chicken broth + water and bring to a boil. Add your pasta, bay leaves and thyme, cook, stirring often until most of the liquid has been soaked up by the pasta and the pasta is al dente. If you feel your pasta needs more water to continue cooking, add around 1/2 cup.

Stir in the cream and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Stir in half the gruyere cheese and the gorgonzola cheese. Cook 2 minutes and then remove from the heat. Top with the remaining cheese and place under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Serve warm, topped with fresh thyme and parsley, if desired.

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Quick Tip:   If you don’t want to use heavy cream, you can substitute whole milk or evaporated milk to get the creamy texture.

Recipe and image courtesy of Tieghan at Half Baked Harvest