Penne with White Bolognese

This week I repeated my Thanksgiving day dish with some key changes that made the dish a lot better in my opinion. I modified Heidi da Emploi's 'Rigatoni with White Bolognese' (The Essential NYTimes Cookbook). The big changes were I swapped out dried porcini mushrooms for baby bella mushrooms, and eliminated the celery, carrots, and sausage. The original recipe called for 2 pounds of meat (1 pound ground beef and 1 pound mild Italian sausage) - which is a little excessive for my taste. Also, given the texture of the sauce, it ended up being a good choice using penne instead of rigatoni. I did a lot of improv in this dish, but I'll try my best to describe the steps and quantities used.

The Ingredients...

• 1 pound penne pasta
• 1 pound ground beef (not lean)
• 10 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1/3 cup half and half
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Black pepper
• Salt, to taste
• Parmesan cheese

The Directions...

1. Coat skillet with olive oil. Turn to medium heat, add onions and mushrooms and cook until tender.
2. Add ground beef and cook until well browned. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the wine, and  simmer rapidly until most of liquid is absorbed.
4. Add the beef broth, and simmer gently.  Add more salt and pepper to taste.
5. Meanwhile, cook pasta al dente and drain.
6. Add the cream to sauce and remove from heat.
7. Add sauce to pasta. Serve with parmesan cheese.