Penne with pine nuts, feta, and sun dried tomatoes

I made up this recipe like 10 years ago, and it never lets me down. It can vary a lot depending on what kind of feta you get--the French is creamy and mild, the Greek is salty, the Bulgarian (my favorite) is intense and goaty. I love the texture the feta creates when mixed with the chopped nuts and melts--a great coating for pasta. The subsequent times you make it, you can adjust the amount of cheese, nuts, mushrooms, or garlic to taste. It reheats incredibly well, and is good with a little extra olive oil and black pepper in the microwave.


Boil a large pot of water, big enough for a pound of pasta.

Saute a few cloves of minced garlic in a tablespoon or two of olive oil.

Dump a 6-oz jar of julienned sun dried tomatoes into the pan with the garlic, and save the olive oil the were marinating in.

Saute the tomatoes until slightly softened over medium heat.

Put 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of pine nuts in a mini chopper, or use a large knife to chop them until they are the consistency of course sand (if you do this in a chopper, it will turn into a paste like chunky peanut butter). Add this into the pan, and mix until blended. Add more olive oil from the tomato jar to keep moist but not oily.

Take 1/2 to 3/4 lb bulgarian (or other pungent) feta, and brake into pieces over the sauce. Mix to blend and cover until the cheese melts.

Add a medium or large container of sliced mushrooms, and a little oil. Mix until the mushrooms are coated with the sauce. Cover and turn heat down. Mix every minute or so, until the mushrooms are softened. Add oil as needed to keep from getting dry.

Keep on low heat while you add the pound of penne to the water. Cook as per the package instructions. Drain the pasta in a colander and put 2/3 of it back in the big pot, keeping the rest in the colander. Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix well over low heat. Add lots of course-ground fresh black pepper.

If there’s too much sauce, add more pasta and combine.