Penne with Five Cheeses

Five Cheeses Cream Sauce

(The 5 cheeses: cottage cheese, cheddar, mozzarella, blue, and parmigiano reggiano - not shown here, plus the other dairies: milk, cream and butter.)

Ina Garten’s Penne with 5 Cheeses on her cooking show looked really sinful yet simple to make. But I thought the addition of tomato and basil ruined the whole cheese thing. I decided to make my own version, without the tomato and basil and with some bacon instead.

This is basically a milk or cream-based sauce with tons of cheese in it. It doesn’t really need any other flavoring as it would only spoil the creaminess and richness of the cheeses. I decided to add some bacon just to give it a slight smoky flavor. And to appease the carnivores here at home. You can leave it out, or add something else, like ham or leftover shredded chicken – basically anything that would complement, but not mask the flavor of the cheese. Prosciutto, I feel is too strong. Its porkiness steals away the show from the exquisite combination of cheeses.

Penne with Five Cheeses
Cook 500 grams of penne according to package directions.
On a large sauce pan, preferably non-stick, add in 100 grams of chopped bacon. Allow to sweat and brown over medium to medium-high heat. Add in ½ a bar of butter (equivalent to one stick) and melt. Add in two cups of milk. And bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and dump in one cup of cream, one cup (250 grams) creamed cottage cheese, 100 to 200 grams each of grated mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan - depending on how cheesy you want this dish to be. I find adding too much cheddar and parmesan can make the dish too salty, especially with the bacon already in. Last, add in two to three tablespoons of blue cheese. Finally, season with freshly cracked black pepper.

(use only freshly grated cheeses!)

Do NOT use bottled parmesan!!! Use only freshly grated parmesan!

Pour sauce over pasta and toss. You may garnish with more parmigiano reggiano and cracked black pepper on top.

(to make it soupier, you may add more milk or cream.)