Penne with Sausage, Shiitake and Portobello Mushrooms, and Zinfandel

I made this dish the other night while Ken was at work. It was delicious and not very difficult to make. The recipe itself is based off of a recipe found in The Wine Lover's Cookbook written by Sid Goldstein. Ken and I like this cookbook quite a bit. I originally found it in the sale section of a bookstore, leafed through it, and was drawn to the detailed explanations of wine and food pairing. While many of the recipes are a little too complex for a beginner and call for rare and sometimes expensive ingredients, there are a number of innovative and really quite remarkable recipes as well. A number of our favorite dishes were directly inspired by recipes in this book. I would certainly recommend that a dedicated cook check this cookbook out... but vegetarians beware, most of the recipes involve meat or seafood.

Here's this recipe.

12 oz. Italian sausage
2 T olive oil
1 1/2 C chopped yellow onion
4 cloves garlic, chopped
8 nice shiitake mushrooms
(original recipe calls for 2 oz. dried porcini)
3-4 portobello mushrooms
1 T crumbled dried rosemary
1 T dried thyme
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp fresh black pepper
1 1/2 C Zinfandel
(original recipe calls for Syrah)
1 C chicken stock
4 tomatoes diced
(can use 2 cans of diced tomatoes)
2 T tomato paste
shredded Asiago cheese to top

1 lb. dried Penne

Saute the sausage over medium heat until browned. Remove the sausage with a slotted spoon and reserve (pat dry with paper towels).

Heat the olive oil and saute the onions and garlic until the onions are translucent (approx. 5 min). Add the mushrooms, herbs, salt and pepper and continue to saute until the mushrooms start to soften and cook down (4-6 minutes).

Add the wine and bring it to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the wine is reduced by half. In a saucepan, start heating water for the pasta.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and chicken stock. Simmer until the tomatoes soften (10-15 minutes). Add the pasta to the boiling pot of water sometime while the sauce is cooking. When the sauce is at the desired consistency, add the sausage and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta and add the sauce. Mix thoroughly (for the picture, I didn't mix the pasta and sauce which was sort of silly. It tastes better all mixed together and is very pretty as well.)

Top with shredded Asiago cheese and serve with Syrah or Zinfandel.