Farfalle with Mushroom Sauce

Pasta comes in such a wide range of shapes and sizes it is impossible not to have a bit of fun with it.  Pasta is frequently served with some type of sauce that can vary from oil to tomato to meat or seafood based to cream based.  Any type of sauce really is fair game for pastas though.  The various shapes of pastas are designed to hold onto and trap all the delicious sauces possible.  Nooks, crannies, ridges and openings help to ensure you get a yummy mingling of sauce and pasta in every bite!

Farfalle commonly called bow tie pasta gets its name from the distinctive shape that resembles a gentleman's bow tie or for the kiddies, butterflies.  It is available medium and small sizes.  This pasta is best with tomato or cream based sauces.

The only commercially canned soups I buy are those I cannot home can.  Essentially, this is the cream based soups and of those available, cream of mushroom soup is the one I buy a lot of.  Yet I don't use it as a soup.  Condensed cream of mushroom soup is the perfect base for sauces.  The lactic acid along with any added milk helps to tenderize meats cooked in the sauce as well.  It is a good base for pork, stew beef, cheaper cuts of beef and chicken.

I sautéed sliced fresh mushrooms in a little butter then stirred in browned ground beef, condensed mushroom soup, garlic pepper and milk then let the mixture simmer to thicken.  I spooned the hot meat sauce over cooked bow tie pasta, sprinkled with parsley then topped with chopped tomatoes and green onions.  It took less than 30 minutes to prepare making this a keeper dish.  The end result was a delicious creamy, meaty pasta dish full of flavour sure to please.