vegetable-penne-in-wine-sauce-with-creamy-cow's-milk-cheese

vegetable-penne-in-a-lemon-wine-sauce-with-creamy-cow’s-milk-cheese

when i was at zingerman’s this past sunday, i picked up a package of their “sharon hollow” cheese which is a very creamy cow’s milk cheese that is cultured with garlic and peppercorn. it has the texture of goat cheese but is slightly more subtle and less sour, but the flavor is still robust with subtle hints of garlic and sharp bites of peppercorn. i’ve been snacking on it for the last couple of days, but couldn’t imagine anything better to serve it with than a vegetable pasta in a lemony-wine sauce, which enhances the garlic in the cheese and harmonizes well with the peppercorns.  if you do not have access to zingerman’s this recipe would also go well with a nice goat cheese.

ingredients:

1 package zingerman’s peppercorn sharon hollow cheese

1 pound penne

1 yellow pepper

1 pint grape tomatoes

6 mushrooms

2 shallots

4 cloves garlic

dried oregano

fresh thyme

20 leaves fresh basil

½ bottle of chardonnay

juice of ½ lemon

directions:

heat a pot with water and a pinch of salt for your penne and then start cleaning and chopping the vegetables/shallots/garlic.  clean the mushrooms with a damp cloth and then quarter them and remove the stems. in a separate fry pan, heat 2 swirls of EVOO over medium and then add the chopped shallots, yellow pepper, grape tomatoes, and mushrooms- sauté for 5-6 minutes with the EVOO before adding the chopped garlic, then sauté for an additional 2-3 minutes before adding the ½ the bottle of chardonnay, juice of ½ lemon, 5 sprigs of fresh thyme, 2 teaspoons dried oregano and salt and pepper to taste.  once the chardonnay has been added, turn the heat up to high and reduce by half- the tomatoes will blister as the wine cooks.  once the water is boiling, add the pasta and cook to al dente as specified on the package.  after the pasta has finished cooking drain and place in a large bowl and mix with the vegetables and wine sauce, then toss with the fresh basil leaves and top with ½ package of diced zingerman’s sharon hollow peppercorn cheese.