Penne Rustica and tasty wine!

So my birthday was yesterday and my boyfriend and I went wine-tasting and I collected 3 lovely bottles of wine as my birthday presents. They are from this amazing winery in Temecula, CA called South Coast Winery, and if you ever have the chance to visit and taste their wine, do it! Every wine you taste is amazing and flavorful and you can taste the actual flavor notes they claim they have. None of the wines taste anything like each other and they have hundreds of awards lining the tasting room's walls. Anyways here's a photo of the 3 wines I got...

From left: Cabernet Rose, Gewürztraminer, and Ruby Cuvee

So for dinner tonight, I'm making Penne Rustica, a re-creation of the dish they serve at Romano's Macaroni Grill. I took out the shrimp that's normally in this dish because I don't really care for it and neither does my boyfriend. But, feel free to add it if you like it. Oh yeah, and here's a funny picture of me cooking in my pajama's : )

Here's the recipe adapted from Top Secret Recipes.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cooking Time: 45 min | Difficulty: Easy | Serves: 4

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
3 Tbsp Marsala Wine (I just used the wine we were drinking for dinner)
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
½ cup Milk
½ cup Chicken Broth
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Tbsp Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
2 tsp Minced Fresh Rosemary
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Minced Fresh Thyme
¼ tsp Ground Cayenne Pepper
1 pound Penne Rigate Pasta, cooked
12 medium Shrimp, peeled and deveined (optional)
2 Skinless Chicken Breast Fillets
½ cup (about 2 ounces) Thick-Sliced Smoked Prosciutto, chopped
Topping
3 Tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 ½ tsp Paprika

Directions:

1. Preheat barbecue grill to high.

2. Prepare gratinata sauce by melting 3 tablespoons of butter in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat. Add garlic and sweat it for about 5 minutes. Be sure the garlic doesn't brown. Add the marsala wine and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients for the sauce and whisk well until smooth. Bring mixture to a simmer and keep it there for 10 minutes or until it's thick. Cover sauce and remove it from the heat.

3. Cook pasta following directions on the package (7 to 9 minutes in boiling water). You want the pasta tender, but not mushy (al dente). Strain pasta and set it aside when it's done.

4. Pound the thick end of your chicken breasts a bit with a kitchen mallet to make them a uniform thickness. Rub chicken with olive oil, then sprinkle on a bit of salt and pepper. Spear the shrimp on skewers (6 per skewer should work fine), then rub them with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

5. Grill chicken for 5 to 6 minutes per side. Grill shrimp for 2 minutes per side. When chicken is done, slice each breast into strips.

6. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Build each dish in a large, shallow baking dish. Or you can use a 9-inch glass or ceramic pie plate. Load 3 cups of pasta into each baking dish. Add one-quarter of the chicken, 3 shrimp and 2 tablespoons of prosciutto onto each serving. Spoon ¾ of a cup of gratinata sauce on each serving and toss to coat. Combine 3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese with 1 ½ teaspoons paprika, then sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of this mixture over the top of each serving. Bake the dishes for 10 to 12 minutes, or until tops begin to brown. Serve.