Today I went to a cooking themed get together! How fun. The theme was copy cat recipes. When I saw the theme, I just new that I needed to make. I have been experimenting with the Penne Rustica recipe from Macaroni Grill. Today I think I nailed the recipe right on the head, so this is what I’ll be sticking with from now on if I want to make it really authentic tasting like Macaroni Grill.
Ingredients
• 1 jar alfredo sauce
• 4 cloves garlic (roasted)
• 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary or 1 tsp dried
• 1lb penne pasta
• 2 chicken breasts
• 4 slices of prosciutto (or bacon)
• about 12-15 medium shrimp
• 1 Tbsp olive oil plus some to put on chicken
• ½ onion diced
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 roasted red pepper diced
• paprika
• salt and pepper
Heat oven to 400 degrees
In a small sauce pan empty alfredo sauce, the mashed roasted garlic,
and rosemary (if you don’t roast the garlic first, sauté it in the
sauce pan for a couple of minutes in olive oil then ad alfredo sauce.)
Let simmer.
Heat large sauce pan on stove and cook pasta. Set aside when done.
Cover raw chicken breasts with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Grill on
high heat grill until done. Let rest for a few minutes then slice and
set aside.
Heat olive oil in sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add prosciutto and
cook for a couple of minutes to brown. Salt and pepper raw shrimp. Add
shrimp and onions to prosciutto. Cook for a couple of minutes until
the shrimp are almost done but still a bit translucent.
Combine chicken, prosciutto/shrimp mixture, and alfredo sauce
together. Add about 1/3 cup parmesan cheese and most of the red
pepper. Mix everything with the pasta in an oven proof dish. Add the
rest of the red pepper on top. Cover with rest of parmesan and
sprinkle with paprika.
Cook in oven for about 20 minutes until the top of the pasta is browned.
Garnish with fresh rosemary. This sucker serves 8-10 people pretty easily.
There were some other pretty cool copy cat recipes at this party too. One person made Wendy’s Chili and it was spot on. Another person made candy that tasted just like snickers bars. It was a great idea. Do you have any copy cat recipes that you like to cook? Leave a comment below
