Penne with Roasted Onions, Gorgonzola, and Walnuts Recipe

Who isn’t always on the lookout for a delicious vegetarian meal that’s great to serve to dinner guests. The combination of sweet, caramelized onions, flavorful cheese, and toasted walnuts is irresistible and makes this penne with roasted onions, gorgonzola and walnuts recipe a winner in my book.

A few years ago I had the pleasure of working with a remarkable co-worker named Diane. Her office was next to mine so I was lucky enough to get to know her really well. She’s an extraordinary woman, you know…one of those. The kind of woman that can milk a cow then churns fresh butter for her divine homemade rustic bread with the concord grape jelly that she’d made yesterday. Seriously, there’s nothing she can’t do.

We became good friends and eventually starting exchanging gifts at Christmas time. Even though I make a lot of my own homemade gifts, I was intimidated by her incredible “Martha-like” talents so instead, I decided to give her a recipe book. As with everything else, Diane is an amazing cook. Thankfully she appreciated the book and even tried a number of recipes from it. The recipe I’m sharing today is from that book (which I’m sorry I don’t know the name of as I just have a photocopy of the recipe). Diane said this recipe was simple and delicious, my two favorite things in a recipe so I decided to give it a go. Good thing I did, it’s become one of my husband’s favorite meals.

I’ve made this on a number of occasions and my dinner guests always ask for the recipe. It’s very simple, only a handful of ingredients and great if you have vegetarian guests (or even none vegetarians) for dinner.

Penne with Roasted Onions, Gorgonzola and Walnuts Recipe

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

3 Large red onions, quartered
8-12 garlic cloves
6 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
12 oz penne, rotini or other tubular pasta
6 oz Gorgonzola cheese, broken into small chunks
3 tbsp coarsely chopped parsley
1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Cut each onion half into crescent-shaped slices about 1/8″ thick. Toss in a roasting pan with garlic cloves, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Roast for 30-35 minutes, shaking the pan every so often. The onions should be tender and slightly charred.

2. Cook the pasta, drain and return it to the pot. Add the roasted onions, garlic, cheese, parsley, walnuts, extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Stir and serve immediately.

Download the penne with roasted onions, gorgonzola and walnuts recipe here.

hope you enjoyed this recipe. Check out some of my other recipes including Double chocolate pecan cookies, The ultimate rice krispie square, Best salad ever, No bake energy balls, the best chicken soup you’ll ever eat, Bailey’s dipped toasted marshmallows, zucchini quinoa patties, perfect chocolate chip cookies, marinated feta cheese, mediterranean humus.

Penne with Roasted Onions, Gorgonzola and Walnuts Recipe - The combination of sweet, caramelized onions, flavorful cheese, and toasted walnuts is irresistible and makes this penne with roasted onions, gorgonzola and walnuts recipe a winner in my book.