A nice simple pasta recipe!
Pennoni pasta is a tube shaped pasta like penne, but the gauge of the pasta is much thinner. Thinner walls on a tube pasta means that more care must be taken when cooking the pasta, so the pieces of pennoni do not break. Broken or split tube pasta is frowned upon in Italy. Overcooked pasta is frowned upon too. Chicken is not a common pasta ingredient in Italy. Even Northern Italians prefer other meats beside chicken. Cream or besciamella sauces are common near the French and Swiss borders, but cream sauces are rarely used in Italian pasta recipes. American, French and German chefs use cream for pasta sauces quite often. Italian American restaurants usually offer a couple of cream sauce pastas on the menu. The reason why, is because cream sauce pastas sell! Many people like cream sauce pastas. Cream sauce pastas are easy to make and they can easily be made to order. Most Italian chefs and traditional classic chefs, including myself, view cream sauce pastas as being just a little bit too easy to make and they can be too rich to serve as pasta course during formal multi course dinner. Many chefs who are not adept at making traditional Italian pasta sauces or fine French sauces rely on cream sauces to carry their reputation through a day. For a weak chef, cream sauce pastas can become a crutch. The worst example of cream sauce pastas are those that are served by franchise chain restaurants. Most times, the cream sauce at a chain restaurant is made with a package of freeze dried instant cream sauce mix. That is enough to make a high class Italian chef vomit! The other mistake that chain restaurants and second rate chefs make is to flood a plate of pasta with way too much cream sauce. That really is a sign that cream sauces are carrying the chef through a day. The basic Italian rule for saucing pasta is to only make enough sauce to coat the pasta with flavor. That also applies to cream sauces. As you can see in the photographs above, the thin cream sauce barely coats the pasta and the excess sauce sits under the pasta. The sauce is not thick or gloppy. The plate is not flooded with sauce! Even though Italian chefs do not use chicken in fine dining and cream sauces are rarely used for pastas, this bowl of pasta would be eye pleasing to an Italian chef. When I have cooked a pasta like this in the past, when working with Italian chefs, Italian chefs look and say "That is okay." The words "That is okay" are about as close to a compliment that a pasta like this will get from a traditional Italian chef. On the other hand, an elderly lady from middle of the road America would rave about how much she likes this pasta. The moral of the story is, sometimes a traditional chef has to "sell out" and offer an item that the clientele can easily like, for the sake of profit, rather than tradition. A crowd pleasing item on a menu is just that. The token cream sauce pasta or chicken entree on an Italian restaurant menu is usually a crowd pleaser that is not traditional, but it tastes good and it appeals to the middle of the road customers.
Pennoni with Chicken Spinach Portabella and Romano Creme: The sauce for this pasta is a la minute. A besciamella sauce is not made ahead of time for this recipe. The sauce is a simple reduction of romano cheese and cream. This is the easiest of all cream sauces to make. However, it is also easy to reduce the sauce too far and it will become too thick and rich. Cook 1 portion of pennoni pasta in boiling water, till it becomes al dente. The sauce can be made while the pasta cooks. Heat a saute pan over medium heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil. Add 1 pat of unsalted butter. Add 4 ounces of coarsely chopped chicken breast. Saute till the chicken pieces become more than halfway cooked. Add 1 minced garlic clove. Add 1 teaspoon of minced shallot. Add 2 small portabella mushrooms that are cut into small wedges. Saute till the mushrooms start to become tender. Add 1 cup of cream. Add sea salt and black pepper. Bring the cream to a gentle boil. Reduce the temperature to low heat. Add 3 tablespoons of finely grated romano cheese, while stirring. Stir till the cheese melts and becomes part of the sauce. Add 1 handful of baby spinach leaves. Stir the spinach into the sauce as the leaves wilt. Simmer and reduce the sauce, till it becomes a thin cream sauce consistency. Keep the sauce warm over very low heat. When the pasta becomes cooked al dente, drain the water off of the pasta. Add the pennoni pasta to the sauce. Toss the sauce and pasta together. Place the Pennoni with Chicken Spinach Portabella and Romano Creme into a shallow pasta bowl. Sprinkle a couple pinches of finely grated romano cheese over the pasta. Garnish with an Italian parsley sprig.
This is not a traditional Italian pasta, but it is a nice pasta entree that has an appealing flavor. Yum! ... Shawna
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