Romano's Macaroni Girll's Penne Rustica

As I mentioned in a previous post, I always picked Macaroni Grill for our Valentine's Black Night Out. The reason I always picked it was because I LOVE their Penne Rustica. It is my favorite meal there. At the beginning of the school year, I purchased a cook book from Books Are Fun. It had a bunch of recipes from restaurants. I bought the book because it had the Penne Rustica recipe. So, the other night Kim and I decided to try and make it. We used a lot of team work to make it. If I would have tried it by myself the first time, it would have been quite difficult. Luckily we learned from doing it together so that next time we cook it it won't take as long. The work was well worth it!! IT WAS AMAZING!!! It tasted just as good if not better than the restaurant version. I even took some home to eat the next day and shared with Marshall. He kept raving about how amazing it was! It is definitely a recipe to cook for a girls night or to impress company!

Advise: Cook your noodles first because they take a while and you can't put the dish together until it is done. While the noodles are cooking, grill your meat. Then make your sauce. Also, you do not need the pimentos on the top. It is mainly for looks. We also used an inside grill which worked just as well, and we used regular Parmesan instead of grated. It gave it more of a flavor. Finally, we just used a regular 9 inch glass baking dish. We put it all in and mixed it together before putting on the topping.

Ingredients:

 

GRATINATA SAUCE

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons Marsala wine
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 lb penne rigate, cooked
• 12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 2 skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup about 2 ounces thick-sliced prosciutto, chopped

TOPPING

• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

GARNISH

• 12 sliced pimientos
• 4 sprigs rosemary

Directions

1. Preheat grill to high.
2. Prepare gratinata sauce by melting 3 tbls of butter over medium/low heat. Add garlic and sweat it for about 5 minutes. Be sure the garlic doesn't brown. Add the marsala wine and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients for the sauce and whisk until smooth. Bring mixture to a simmer and keep it there for 10 minutes or until it's thick. Cover sauce and remove from heat. 
3. Cook past following directions on the package. You want the pasta tender. Strain pasta and set it aside when it's done.
4. Pound the thick end of your chicken breast a bit with a kitchen mallet to make them a uniform thickness. Rub chicken with olive oil, then sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper. Spear the shrimp on skewers (6 per skewer should work fine), then rub them with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Grill chicken for 5 to 6 minutes per side. Grill shrimp for 2 minutes per side. When chicken is done, slice each breast into strips.
6. Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Build each dish in a large shallow baking dish. Or you can use a 9 inch glass or ceramic pie plate. Load 3 cups of pasta into each baking dish. Add one quarter of the chicken, 3 shrimp, and 2 tbls of prosciutto onto each serving. Spoon 3/4 of a cup of gratinata sauce on each serving and toss to coat. Combine 3 tbls of grated Parmesan cheese with 1 1/2 tsp paprika, then sprinkle about 1 tbls of this mixture over the top of each serving. Bake the dishes for 10-12 minutes, or until tops begin to brown. Arrange 3 pimentos on the top of each serving, then jab a sprig of rosemary into the center an serve.

"Kim, someone ate the bread! I swear I opened it like this!" :)

 
Our delicious masterpiece