Rigatoni ala Bergh

In a large pot, bring water for pasta to a boil

While the water is heating up, in a small saucepan add the pesto calibrese and heat gently over medium heat for about a minute.

Add the cooking cream to the pesto in the saucepan, along with a third of the minced garlic and the marinara sauce. Stir, and continue to heat gently for about another minute being careful not to heat the sauce too quickly, stirring occasionally.

With an immersion hand blender, carefully blend all the ingredients in the saucepan together so the texture is smooth and creamy. Ensure head of immersion blender is fully covered by sauce in the saucepan so it doesn't splatter everywhere (TIP: If you don’t have an immersion hand blender, you can pour the ingredients from the saucepan into a regular blender and blend till smooth, then return the mixture to the saucepan and continue to heat).

Season the sauce with black pepper to your liking and add the red pepper flakes. Reduce heat to a very low setting to gently heat the sauce, stirring or whisking occasionally (TIP: If you like it spicy, you can add more black pepper and/or red pepper flakes and season to your liking).

Once the water for the pasta is boiling, season the water generously with salt and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Bring the water back to a boil and add the pasta and cook, monitoring regularly so the pasta doesn’t overcook.

While the pasta is cooking, melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Once the butter is bubbling, add the remaining two thirds of minced garlic to the butter and stir, being sure to not burn the garlic.

Add the other tablespoon of olive oil followed by the sliced mushrooms to the saute pan continuing to stir so the mushrooms are evenly coated with the butter and olive oil. Reduce the heat slightly and sauté the mushrooms till they are golden brown (TIP: you can also season the mushrooms with a pinch of salt while they are cooking if you’d like

Once the pasta is al dente and done cooking, drain and set aside briefly.

Turn the heat to very low for the sauté pan and add about half a packet of baby spinach leaves on top of the mushrooms and cream sauce till they fully cover the mushrooms and sauce. Let the spinach rest on top of the sauce and DO NOT stir or mix together.

Gently add the cooked pasta to the sauté pan on top of the baby spinach. If you’ve timed it right, the heat from the pasta should gently wilt the spinach and cook it, but not overcook it.

Add the remaining sauce mixture on top of the pasta, stir everything in the saute pan together and heat through. Season to taste. (TIP: For an even heartier meal, add some grilled chicken or italian sausage at the end.)