Farfalle Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Caramelized Onions

Creamy Farfalle Pasta with Spinach, Mushrooms, and Caramelized Onions.  This simple meatless Italian dinner is pure comfort food!  The bow-tie shaped pasta is perfectly matched with rich and buttery Parmesan sauce!

FARFALLE – BOW TIE PASTA

Farfalle pasta is meant to be used with creamy sauces, such as with chicken broccoli alfredo (with or without chicken) or with this creamy four-cheese pasta sauce.   In fact, this farfalle recipe was inspired by another family favorite that features a rich creamy pasta sauce:  spinach mushroom pasta.
Farfalle works great both in meatless recipes and in dishes with meat.   This particular recipe is meatless.  However, you can easily add any kind of meat or seafood.  Add easy seared chicken or grilled chicken to this creamy bow tie pasta.  Who doesn’t like creamy pasta, especially if you add some chicken to it?  It’s a perfect dish to make for a family weeknight dinner.
If you enjoy seafood, add seared scallops with bacon or trout with garlic lemon butter sauce.

FARFALLE: ITALIAN PASTA

This Italian-inspired recipe features bow-tie shaped pasta smothered with easy cream sauce along with vegetables and mushrooms.  You’ll love this simple comfort food on a plate.

• Simple ingredients.  This recipe requires basic ingredients that you can buy pretty much at any store: bow-tie pasta, spinach, mushrooms, onions, garlic, cream, and Parmesan cheese.
• Packed with veggies.  This meatless farfalle recipe uses spinach and caramelized onions.  It’s a great and delicious way to incorporate more vegetables into your dinners.
• Caramelized onions add so much flavor and sophistication to this dish!
• Weeknight dinner recipe.  This easy recipe is perfect for those busy weeknights when you don’t have much time for cooking.  It’s also a great recipe to use any leftover chicken.  Just throw in some leftover cooked chicken together with creamy farfalle pasta, and you have a perfect family dinner!
• Flexible recipe.  What I love about this creamy bow-tie pasta is that you can serve it as is, without meat!   Or, you can add protein, if you like.  Serve farfalle with grilled steak, grilled chicken, or fish.

WHAT IS FARFALLE?

Farfalle is a bow-tie shaped Italian pasta. Farfalle pasta can also be described as butterfly-shaped pasta. In fact, “farfalle” means “butterflies” in Italian.
Farfalle dates back to the 16th century in Lombardia and Emilia-Romagna Regions in Northern Italy.
Farfalle is often used with cream sauces and in tomato-based sauces.  It’s also popular in salads.

COOKING TIPS

• Make-ahead tip.  Make caramelized onions ahead of time, refrigerate them in an air-tight container, and use within the next 3 days.  You can also freeze caramelized onions for up to 2 months and thaw them whenever you need them.
• If the creamy Parmesan sauce is too thick, slowly add a small amount of half-and-half to thin it out.  Make sure the sauce continues to simmer and does not come to a standstill, while you add half-and-half to thin it out.
• If the creamy Parmesan sauce is too thin, add a small amount of shredded Parmesan cheese, and stir it in, while the sauce simmers.

HOW LONG DO YOU COOK FARFALLE?

Usually, farfalle is cooked in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes.
To prepare farfalle al dente, cook farfalle for 8 minutes, or for 2 minutes less than indicated on the package instructions.

Ingredients

• Caramelized onions
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 yellow onions , large, sliced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• Creamy pasta sauce
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 10 oz mushrooms , sliced (I used button mushrooms)
• 6 oz spinach
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese , shredded
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Pasta
• 8 oz farfalle pasta

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