One Pot Creamy French Onion Pasta Bake

Mr T made this one and it was delightful. It's not the prettiest dish but has a real depth of flavour compared to most pasta dishes.

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp butter

• 1.5 medium onions, thinly sliced

• 2 tsp honey

• 1 cup dry red wine

• 2 cloves garlic, minced or grated

• 2 cups mushrooms, sliced

• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (or 2 tsp dried thyme)

• 3 cups chicken stock

• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

• 2 bay leaves

• Pasta (judge amount by the size of your pot)

• 1 1/4 cups double cream

• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

• 1/3 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese (or any blue cheese)

• 2 cups shredded gruyere cheese (Emmental works too)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180C

2. Melt the butter, onions, and honey together in a large pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 mins.

3. Slowly add 1/2 cup of the wine, 1/4 cup at a time, until the wine cooks into the onions.

4. Cook another 8-10 mins until you've used the 1/2 cup of wine and the onions are caramelised.

5. Add the garlic, mushrooms, thyme, cook another 3-4 mins

6. Add the remaining 1/2 cup wine, the stock, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and pasta

7. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently until the pasta is al dente and the stock has been absorbed, about 8-10 mins. We used gigli pasta, if using something thicker like rigatonni you may need to add more water for it to cook. 

8. Stir in the cream, gorgonzola and 1/2 cup gruyere cheese.

9. Remove from the heat.

10. Transfer the pasta to a baking dish.

11. Top with the remaining gruyere cheese.

12. Bake 20 mins or until the cheese has melted and is lightly browned on top.