2nd Place Honorable Mention – 2014 Recipe Contest

Chef Richie here, at your service!

Our second honorable mention prizewinner in our 2014 recipe contest is…home chef…drum roll please…Tasha Stover! Congratulations Chef and Happy Halloween!

Lamore’s Spinach Penne. The combination of asparagus, sun dried tomatoes, Fontina cheese and pinenuts make this heavenly dish a whole greater than the sum of its parts. I don’t say this very often because I think it’s true for the best dishes of all time…caesar salad, clam chowder, spaghetti and meatballs, a cheeseburger…but I can honestly say, after cooking and tasting this dish, that it is a whole greater than the sum of its parts. GREAT job Chef Tasha! I can tell that you designed this dish with love and so…Chef Richie Says: THAT’S AMORE!

Chef Tasha will be receiving a deluxe gift assortment of Bella Sun Luci ingredients and I hope she submits a recipe for next year’s Mooney Farms/Bella Sun Luci recipe contest because she has what it takes to win it all!

Lamore’s Spinach Penne

Chef Richie Says: Use your imagination! You can add roasted or grilled prawns, or scallops, or salmon, or chicken, etc. to this dish at the end. Stack up your add-ons for height, dimension and chef-alicious presentation style and flair.

Serves 4 hungry people.

Ingredients

• 1 pound spinach penne, cooked in salted water according to directions on package (time the pasta’s cooking with the cream-cheese’s cooking time)
• 1 (8.5 oz) jar Bella Sun Luci Sun Dried Tomatoes, julienne cut (oil drained and saved for cooking the asparagus);
• 1 pound fresh asparagus, ends snapped off and discarded, spears broiled with the reserved sun dried tomato oil and a pinch of salt, then after cooking: tops cut off whole (1-inch) and middles cut into ½-inch pieces.
• 1 pint heavy cream; 1 cup fontina cheese; ½ cup grated (or shredded) parmesan; 4 tablespoons lightly toasted pinenuts; salt & pepper to taste.

Directions

Heat the cream, Fontina and Parmesan cheese so it all melts together. Add the hot cooked pasta and asparagus last. Season with salt and pepper. Serve equal size portions in four bowls and top with the pine nuts (or add any optional additions, then top with pine nuts).

Happy cooking and buon appetito!

Con amore,

Chef Richie Hirshen

Corporate Chef

Mooney Farms and Bella Sun Luci

Chico, CA