Summer Garlic Mushrooms and Mostaccioli
By: Noelle Ferrada Kelly
Published: Thursday, June 24, 2010 - 8:37am

Ingredients




2 1/2 cups dried Mostaccioli pasta
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cups of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
12 garlic cloves, cut in half
1/2 red pepper, julienned
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated in water and chopped
1 cup fresh basil, loosely packed and coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1 teaspoon Herbes de Provence

Preparation

1 Bring 6 to 8 cups of water to boil in a large pot. 2 Meanwhile start on the vegetable mixture. Slice and preapre all the vegetables. Heat 1/8 cup olive oil and saute' onions, garlic, mushrooms and pepper for 5-7 minutes. 3 Start cooking pasta at this point according to package directions. 4 Rehydrate sun-dried tomatoes by covering the tomatoes in water for 10 minutes prior to sauce preparation. Drain liquid, when ready, and chop and add to onion mixture. Cook for another 5 minutes. 5 Add the basil and the rest of the spices with the remaining olive oil. Cook for another 5-7 minutes. 6 After pasta has been cooked al dente, drain water and bring pasta back to large pot. Add the vegetables and toss the lemon zest. 7 Serve on each plate and drizzle with a little more olive oil and use Parma if you like.

About


The key to this dish is the lemon zest, olive oil and the garlic. There can never be too much garlic, in fact, when I made it it still lacked garlic. Don't be afraid to used what the recipe states since the garlic is sauteed with mushrooms and olive oil and will not be strong the the taste. We again enjoyed our dish with a huge spinach salad.
My husband picked out the Mostacholi pasta since this pasta used to be one he ate growing up when he was living in Palatine, Illinois. Mostaccioli is another type of penne pasta and resembles a mustache. How great! It was delicious with each bite and convinced me to use it more often.