Macaroni Milanese

I spent some time at my sister's house this weekend while she's recovering from surgery. It's been like a retreat with my sisters and mom. We don't leave the house and the only activity is eating. We plan lunch while we are eating breakfast, and dinner while eating lunch. I have been getting New York Times recipes in my email every day -- and decided to take some time to investigate options when we were discussing dinner yesterday, and we landed on Macaroni Milanese. Universally rated a thumbs-up -- I do think this could be a keeper for my family as well (as long as they are open to mushrooms). I doubled the recipe to feed all 5 of us.

Macaroni Milense

1 lb. gemelli pasta
4 T. tomato puree
1 lb. mushrooms
8 slices of ham (can also use prosciutto)
4T. Madiera (we used dry sherry -- I'm sure red wine would work too)
4T. unsalted butter
6 T. Gruyere cheese
6 T. parmesan

1. Cook pasta in heavily salted water
2. In a separate saute pan, cook mushrooms, tomato puree, ham and wine over medium high heat (until liquids cook down to a glaze)
3. When pasta is done, reserve a cup of pasta water, and then drain the pasta
4. Return pasta to the pot, mix with cheese, butter and enough pasta water to get the cheese to melt
5. Add the mushroom/ham combination and mix well