Take-out Tuesday, French Onion Soup Penne
Have I mentioned my husband has now taken up cooking? As in reading cookbooks, planning dinners, shopping for ingredients, prepping in advance, serious cooking?
Like Grilled Lamb Chops with Mustard Molasses Glaze from Bobby Flay… fancy schmancy cooking!
I am all about help in the kitchen, and he will let me contribute a side dish or two…
Like this French Onion Soup Penne…
When I saw this recipe from Half Baked Harvest, One Pot Creamy French Onion Pasta Bake, I said, “Oh Yes Please!”
In an effort to lighten things up after the holidays, I made a few changes in the ingredients and changed the technique to suit my cooking style
The result was an easy, yet elegant pasta dish that you will want to put on your table pronto!
First caramelize the onions with butter and brown sugar, adding sherry and Worcestershire, and letting everything cook down until the onions have soaked up all that good French onion soup flavor
Next the chicken broth and pasta go in, I used Ronzoni 150 Penne, 25% fewer calories per serving. You will never miss them… 😋
At this point I put the pasta into a baking dish and added half and half, rather than heavy cream, and flavorful Gruyère cheese. If you use a flavorful cheese like Gruyère or Parmesan, you get a lot of punch from a small amount, so decrease the amount if you want to lighten up this dish even further
The dish can now be refrigerated until baking later or the next day.
Or you can finish the recipe in the sauce pan if you want to serve it immediately
Topped with some shaved Parm, you don’t need much, it goes in the oven for about 30 minutes
Adult Mac & Cheese!
This fills your house with a wonderful aroma while it’s cooking…
French Onion Soup Penne
Ingredients
- 2 T unsalted butter
- 1 sweet onion sliced
- 1 T brown sugar
- 1 T Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup sherry
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1/2 cup water
- 8 oz reduced calorie penne pasta
- 3/4 cup half and half cream
- 4 oz grated Gruyère cheese { use less cheese if you want to lighten up even more}
- 1 oz shaved Parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper
- fresh thyme for garnish optional
Instructions
- Melt butter in a 3 quart sauce pan over medium high heat. Add onions and brown sugar and cook 10 minutes, stirring often, until soft and beginning to caramelize. Add Worcestershire and sherry, and continue to cook for 10 minutes to reduce the wine and infuse the onions with flavor. Add garlic and cook 1 minute.
- Add chicken broth and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and add pasta. Cook for 5-8 minutes until pasta is al dente. Stir in cream. Transfer mixture to a 1 quart prepared baking dish. Stir in Gruyère. Top with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
- Refrigerate at this point until baking if desired. Bake covered at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for 10-15 minutes until heated through. Garnish with thyme leaves if desired.
Notes
We had this with simple roasted asparagus on the side, but you can add in any cooked vegetable you like directly to the pasta when you add the finishing cream and cheeses, and then bake or heat through as above
Stay tuned for some of HH’s kitchen adventures!
Here’s another lite pasta recipe, Lightened Up Mac & Cheese, it’s full of healthy Chia seeds too
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Jenna, It’s fun to have help in the kitchen, whether it’s the cleaning up or the cooking part! Your adult mac and cheese sounds wonderful with the addition of caramelized onions, Gruyère and parm! Congrats on Alabama’s victory last night, my hubby was crying in his beer over Clemson’s defeat 🙂
Lucky girl with all the cooking help! The noodles look yummy. It sounds like it was a fun game last night:@)
That French onion penne sounds amazing. I will be trying that!!!!!
Thank you for the nice recipe.
Thanks Liz, this is my new favorite! >
Wow! A hubby that cooks would be a dream! I swear, Jenna, I’d weigh 500 lbs. if I lived in your house because everything you do looks so delicious. I’m going to try the onion soup penne — sounds divine.
First off, was the game not the best ever? Roll Tide Roll!!!! Ok, Jenna you had me at penne! We love us some pasta and this has to be delicious! Thanks for sharing and I can’t wait for your husband’s recipes!
YES YES YES!! Best game ever! I hope you try and love this pasta, Pam it is my new favorite! >
LOVE the twist on this penne pasta dish — delish! Definitely trying it this week (picked up the ingredients at the grocery today)!
Oh good! Thanks Joanne!
This sounds really good! Saving the recipe!
Thanks, I hope you enjoy!
French Onion Soup and pasta are two of my favorite things so this recipe is a winner in my book.
I think you’ll love it!
Oh man, that looks good! I love french onion soup and pasta, so the marriage of the two has to be lovely! I’m not sure what I would do if my husband started cooking like that. I’d be happy to eat it, but resistant to share my kitchen! I have a lot of fun in there =)
ha! I am lucky to have a big kitchen, but I know what you mean, Carlee, I don’t share it well either…but it’s nice to have help! >
The Lightened Up Mac & Cheese looks great! I would never have thought to add chia seeds. Good idea!
Thanks Angie! I try to throw chia seeds in everything! >
Hi Jenna,
Your French Onion Soup Penne looks fantastic! Thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and come back real soon!
Miz Helen
Penne is my favorite kind of pasta and I look forward to trying this recipe. Lucky you for having kitchen help!
Congratulations!
Your recipe is featured on Full Plate Thursday this week. Hope you are having a great week and enjoy your new Red Plate!
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen