I tend to do my grocery shopping on Saturdays so Friday nights dinner very often turns into a clean out the fridge meal. This week I was enjoying the flavour combos of mushrooms and gorgonzola in the burgers smothered in a caramelized onion, mushroom and blue cheese sauce and asparagus and gorgonzola in the asparagus in gorgonzola sauce and I had some of each of the ingredients left over. Pastas are great for clean out the fridge meals and I immediately decided to make a pasta with asparagus and sauteed mushrooms in a gorgonzola sauce. My choice of pasta when using asparagus is penne for its similar shape and I had some whole wheat penne in my pantry that sounded perfect. Pastas like this are a breeze to make and this one turned out great! The gorgonzola sauce was so tasty and it went really well together with the asparagus and sauteed mushrooms. The juicy asparagus seemed to just burst in your mouth and cut through the creaminess of the sauce providing a nice contrast and cleansing your pallet for the next bite. I really like how these throw together, clean out the fridge, type of meals can turn out to be some of the best.
Penne with Asparagus and Mushrooms in a Gorgonzola Sauce
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 ounces mushrooms (sliced)
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 pound penne (gluten free for gluten free)
- 1 clove garlic (chopped)
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme (chopped)
- 1 splash dry white wine
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 ounce gorgonzola (crumbled)
- 1/2 pound asparagus (cleaned, trimmed and cut into 1 inch slices shaped like penne)
directions
- Melt the butter in a pan.
- Add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper and saute until tender, about 10 minutes.
- Add the pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente, abut 7-10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and thyme to the pan and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the white wine and deglaze the pan.
- Add the milk, heavy cream and gorgonzola.
- Place the asparagus into a primed steamer until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
- Simmer the sauce until it thickens, several minutes.
- Drain the pasta and toss in the gorgonzola sauce along with the asparagus and mushrooms.
Gorgonzola? YES!!!?!?! This is good, really good. Oh, and it looks amazing on the plate. Would you mind having 2 over for dinner?
Love the addition of gorgonzola in this dish. That's a perfect way to end the week and clean the fridge Kevin.
i agree, pasta is great for those clean-out-the-fridge nights. i love all of these things too! great recipe kevin.
ok Kevin….wow!!!
This is a heads up …I think I am going to start featuring your stuff on one of my blogs….I will send them here for the recipes…
I just can't help myslef!!!
Hugs
Diana
I love this recipe!!!! I'll head to the grocery later and buy some of the ingredients..
You had great leftovers and used them well. I like the way that one caramelized mushroom looks so appetizing in the front.
I wish I liked Gorgonzola..I am a sissy cheese eater. I only like mild cheeses. But this dish looks forgiving. I am sure I could use another cheese
Absolutely delicious sounding and your picture is fantastic. Gorgonzola sauce…heavenly!
Looks delicious and relatively simple. Nice work!
Pasta is also my first choice for clean out the fridge meals.
This looks yummy!
Gorgonzola is one of my favorite cheeses. What a terrific dinner!
Gorgonzola, asparagus and mushrooms… All my faves on the same plate! You just gave me dinner for tomorrow.
mmmm…beautiful…
Shame I can't eat blue cheese at the moment. Will have to bookmark to make after the baby is born!!! Sounds delish
It looks great, congratulations
Excellent "clean out the fridge" dish… especially when you have all those great things to clear out!
Thanks for sharing with Presto Pasta Nights.
This is one of those dishes you see and have to try. I just need to get the ingredients…but I won't be forgetting this one!
Gorgonzola makes for one of my favorite pasta sauces! I love it with butternut squash but this sounds awesome also. This is so well put-together, especially for a clean-out-the-fridge meal.
What a great dish! I just bought some beautiful asparagus yesterday and this looks like the perfect way to use them. Well done!
Yum, what a great pasta dish! We usually shop on Saturdays too and find ourselves in a similar situation on Friday nights.
Hurray for pasta! Sounds really good!
Gorgonzola as a sauce for pasta is heaven. Yours looks fabulous Kevin!
LL
That looks absolutely delicious, Kevin.
Looks like a perfect dinner, even if it was "clean the fridge"! I bought the ingredients to make your asparagus with gorgonzola sauce, I'll let you know how it turns out 🙂
Have a lovely weekend!
Delicious!
That dish looks amazing – so creamy and yummy!
Your clean out the frig looks fantastic! Leftovers? That doesn't look like leftovers in my book, perfect picture, looks amazing, especially with the mushrooms. Gorgonzola and pasta, great combo!
Gorgeous dish! Those mushrooms look perfect!
Gorgonzola has to be one of my favorite cheeses. It's creamy, tangy and rich, I love it!
What a quick tasty meal!
Kevin, love your blog! your recipes are so wonderfully creative and straight forward. Love them all…
Well, a search for Asparagus and Gorgonzola pops up your blog on a Sunday afternoon…WOW, took the ingredients and followed the recipe "roughly" and ended up with fantastic fettuccini (locally made in the northern Italian way) instead of penne. Topped it off with a glass of Pinot Noir, ahh. My wife couldn't believe it since she doesn't like ANY white sauces so you've got a good thing going. Thanks!