This is one of my favorite dishes.  I tested it on my friends some weeks ago and we cleaned out the entire pot of pasta.  It’s not difficult to make, but it’s sort of heavy on ingredients.  The best way is to make lots of sauce in advance and freeze it.  The inspiration comes from the Pasta Da Vinci dish from Cheesecake Factory.

Ingredients

• 4-6 cloves or garlic – finely diced (not minced)
• 1/2 of a medium sized shallot – diced
• 6-8 baby Portobello mushrooms – cleaned and sliced
• 6-8 medium-sized shitake mushrooms – cleaned and sliced
• 1 teaspoon of fresh chopped parsley – chopped well
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1 cup of Madeira Wine
• 1 tablespoon of flour
• pepper to taste
• 3 cups of cooked penne
• 1/2 cup of cooked chicken breast (cubed)

In a stainless steel pan, heat a tablespoon of butter on medium heat.  Add the garlic, and shallots.  Cook for about a minute and add the mushrooms.  Cook until the ingredients start to brown and stick to the bottom of the pan.  Reduce the heat to low and pour in the Madeira Wine.  Add the remaining tablespoon of butter.  Let the wine simmer and reduce for about 15 minutes.  Stir occasionally.  For a stronger flavor, simmer for an additional 10 minutes, but there will be less sauce.  Stir in the heavy cream, salt, and pepper.  Let the sauce cook for five minutes.  Gradually pour in the flour and whisk in a circular motion as the flour hits the sauce.  Depending on how thick you want the sauce, you might not use all of the flour.  Stir slowly for a minute.  Remove from heat, throw in the penne and chicken.  Toss well to coat.  Top with parsley as a garnish.

~ Kin