Pasta in a Creamy Tomato Asiago Sauce

My favorite thing to make is pasta.
No, really.
This isn't an "I love pasta" it's an "Oh, honey, I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE pasta! I don't know where I'd be without pasta! Pasta! Pasta! Pasta! Do not diss the pasta dish!" A good bowl of pasta can make a bad day practically perfect in every way.
"Hi, my name is Sarah and I am a pasta addict . . . "
"Hi, Sarah."

Anywho, last weekend, I was dining with a friend at Mimi's Cafe and stumbled upon their seafood pasta in an asiago sauce.
Oh.
My.
Lanta.
I went home on a desperate quest to recreate the awesome. Would you believe with all the cooking sites and all the "mimic Mimi's" recipes that this pasta wasn't one of them? I was shocked.

So I made my own. I don't think of recipes as rules . . . they're more like guidelines, if you will. So using these "guidelines" I combined a couple of pasta recipes and came out with deliciousness! Ta-da!

Ingredients:

• 14.5 oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups Asiago cheese
• Grated Parmesan to taste (optional)
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch 
• 1-1.5lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces (or, if you wanted, you could do shrimp like Mimi's, but, as Chris hates seafood pasta and we both love chicken, I used chicken)
• 1 cup Baby Bella mushrooms (or more if you love them!)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup red onion
• 5 green onions/scallions chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup butter (half a stick)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 box bow-tie pasta . . . or any pasta. I just happened to have bow-tie in the pantry
• 1 tsp chicken base (or 1 bouillon cube)

1. First, dice up the onions and the garlic. Toss them in a sauce pan with the butter and cook until tender and translucent.
2. Add chicken and oil.
3. When chicken is mostly cooked, add chicken base and mushrooms. Cook until mushrooms are dark and tender and chicken is no longer pink.
4. Add  wine and allow to evaporate (about 60 seconds)
5. Remove chicken and mushroom mixture and set aside. Do not clean the pan. Removing the chicken and shrooms allows you to concentrate strictly on the sauce, but not cleaning the pan will allow the essence of chicken and shrooms to enrich the sauce.
5. In same pan, add tomato sauce, whipping cream, cheese(s). Cook on medium-low and stir with whisk until cheese has completely dissolved.  I used a mix between shredded and the super grated. If you find the flavor is too strong, add a little bit of milk. This will thin the sauce, but it will also soften the flavor if needed.
6. Add cornstarch. This will thicken the sauce back up if you find it too thin (which can be a struggle--you want it to be a sauce, not a soup :] which is the trickiest thing I've found with pastas)
7. Once you are satisfied with the taste and consistency of your sauce, add the chicken and mushrooms again.
8. Prepare pasta according to the box directions. Once cooked and drained, add to sauce.
9. Open your mouth and take a great big bite ;]

I'm thinking next time I'll make it, I'll add fresh diced tomatoes, as well, just to give it a little extra zing.