Skillet Pasta

This recipe is another skillet dish from The Best 30-Minute Recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I really love that they concentrate no only on dishes that are easy to prepare, but also on meals that are easy to clean up. Who cares if it only takes you 30 minutes to prepare if it takes you another 30 minutes to clean up? Main dishes that are prepared entirely in one dish certainly help to keep the overall time spent in the kitchen way down.

This dish is creamy and cheesy and delicious, but obviously rather high in fat and calories compared to what we normally cook here. Still, you can enjoy a dish like this as part of a healthful lifestyle if you keep the portion sizes down and pair it with a low-fat side dish like a nice tossed salad. This recipe claims 4 servings, but it made closer to 6 smallish servings for us - and a small serving is all you need as it is quite rich.

Skillet Pasta Quattro Formaggi

The major change I made to this recipe was to cut back the water by 3/4 cup. It was actually an accident - I discovered the mistake in time to correct it, but I decided that it looked like there was plenty of liquid already. Sure enough, there ended up being plenty of sauce - any more liquid and I think it would have been too runny. The blend of cheeses is quite nice - the Gorgonzola adds a nice sharpness and tang without overpowering the other cheeses.

This isn't something I would make all the time, but a rich, cheesy dish like this sure hits the spot once in a while.