Baked Penne with Five Cheeses
This Baked Penne with Five Cheeses is adapted from a recipe in Ina Garten’s amazing cookbook, Barefoot Contessa’s Family Style. First of all, I highly recommend this cookbook to anyone wanting to cook delicious food. I own many cookbooks but this one has gotten the most use over the years. Every single recipe is pretty simple to make and all are outstanding in flavor!
An elegant, upscale Italian macaroni and cheese, this dish is comfortable on its own with a salad. I often make this pasta with my Favorite Italian Green Salad with Avocado. Additionally, you can serve with grilled chicken, fish, or other meat. Kids love this as well; serve with some chicken fingers and carrot sticks. Because of its versatility, this pasta is one of my mainstays when I cook for others. And around the holidays, my good friend Sherri and I get together and make at least four pans of this! Perfect for a Christmas Eve supper after church.
Baked Penne with Five Cheeses is super simple to make. Simply pre-cook the penne slightly and dump into a big bowl with the rest of the ingredients! In the recipe below, I have listed three grated cheeses in the total of five cheeses. Feel free to substitute you favorite white cheese or combination of cheeses. Indeed, you can’t make a mistake as pretty much any cheese is wonderful with this pasta.
The easiness truly belies the deliciousness of this dish. Definitely one of my favorites!
Baked Penne with Five Cheeses
Ingredients
- 1 pound penne pasta
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 15 ounce can petite diced tomatoes partially drained
- 1/2 cup Fontina cheese grated
- 1/2 cup Pecorino Romano cheese grated
- 1/2 cup provolone cheese grated
- 3 Tbsp ricotta cheese
- 1 8 ounce pkg fresh mini mozzerella balls
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp fresh parsley chopped fine
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 4 Tbsp cold butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°. Bring large pot of salted water to a boil on top of stove. Drop penne into pot and parboil for 8 minutes. Drain well in a colander.
- While pasta is cooking, put remainder of ingredients except the butter in a large bowl. When pasta is done, add to bowl of ingredients and stir to combine.
- Place pasta mixture in greased large rectangular baking dish. Dot on top of the pasta with the cold butter. At this point, you can freeze for later if desired.
- Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and cook until hot, bubbly, and slightly browned on top, approximately 25 more minutes. Enjoy!