Creamy Onion Pasta
So simple, so easy, so good! The hardest part is chopping the onions.
- 1 lb pasta shape of your choosing (penne, rigatoni, or macaroni is great)
- 1 lb sweet onion like Vidalia or Walla Walla
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fresh ground Wild Madagascar peppercorns (or white or black pepper)
- 1 TBSP vanilla paste
- 1 (8 oz) block cream cheese
- Chopped parsley or chives, for topping
First, get the onions caramelizing. Chop the onions into small pieces, and then add the onion, butter, salt, pepper, and vanilla paste into a large frying pan that has a lid, and turn the temperature on low. Keep the lid on for the first 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the onions to really soften and cook down. Then, remove the lid and increase temperature to medium-low, and cook another 20-40 minutes, until the onions are golden brown, beautifully fragrant, and jammy.
When you have about 20 minutes of cook time left on the onions, get a large pot of salted water boiling and cook the pasta until al dente. When the pasta is done, don't drain off all the pasta water yet--save at least a cup of it to assist the sauce.
Add the cream cheese to the caramelized onion. Add enough pasta water to help the cream cheese melt and everything to turn into a creamy, rich sauce. Add the drained pasta to the sauce and stir to combine. Add more pasta water if needed. Serve hot, topped with chopped parsley and/or chives.
Optional: you can add chicken or drained, cooked white beans to this recipe for extra protein.