Penne with Mushrooms, Arugula, and Brie

This month's Real Simple arrived at The Tree-house last week, and I couldn't wait to find a guinea pig to sample the recipe for Pasta with Brie, mushrooms and arugula on pg 310 (no way I was getting away with serving it to The Hub, who refers to arugula as weeds, as in "what are these weeds in my salad?" and "I don't want the weeds in my soup." Charming.)

So Aunt Keri's Kitchen took a field trip last night to whip up dinner for my beautiful girlfriend Terresa (and snoogle my adorable honorary niece, Harper.)

The recipe is so simple and the results so tasty, it kind of blows my mind.

Make a box (or 3/4 of box as the recipe suggests) of Penne according to the directions on the package while you assemble the rest of the dish:

First you chop 1 lb button mushrooms:

Then slice one small red onion:

If you are me, you have to pause several times to make faces like this and let onion tears roll down your cheeks:
Before you get this:

The Mushrooms and Onions go into a big skillet over medium heat until the shrooms start to sweat and the onion gets soft, then you add 1/2 cup of dry white wine. They suggested trying Vermouth as a substitute if you didn't have white wine around, (me, not have wine around? snort) so I decided to go for the Vermouth, just 'cause:

Also, salt and (since they go together like shamalama-ding-dong) pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of each, at this point and let it all cook until the liquid is just about gone:

While that is cooking away, chop 8 ounces of Brie into 1inch chunks. This brand seems to come in a can, which I have not seen before and made me feel like I was opening cat food or something

Mmmmmmm, Brie...

Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta water, and add the pasta to the mushroom and onion mixture. Add 4 cups of baby arugula and the Brie chunks and toss to combine everything.

The peppery arugula, the creamy Brie, the earthy mushrooms - Oh. Mah. Gah.

So Good.

We also had a salad of green leaf lettuce, tomato, pear, and blue cheese with balsamic vinaigrette (same as the one I used earlier in the week.)

And, because Terresa is extra fabulous, I made these as an extra fabulous end to the meal:

Oh yeah.