This is a little different from the classic pasta and mushroom dishes in that it does not use cream or dairy as a base for the sauce. The recipe works well with Farfalle shaped pasta, bow ties or butterflies, but any medium sized pasta shape would work. For the pictures I used Orecchiette as that is what I had available. Serves 4 to 6 people as a main course.
Ingredients
- A bunch of mixed herbs, basil, 1 small sprig rosemary and a fresh parsley
- 2 lb fresh mushrooms can be store brought, wild or mixed. Chanterelles or other fleshy mushrooms are good.
- 1 lb pasta (farfalle/bow ties for preference)
- 1 0z dried porcini mushrooms
- 2 oz unsalted butter
- 2 tbs olive oil plus more for drizzling
- 4 cloves of garlic
- Salt and pepper
- Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Soak the dried porcini mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. Wash to remove any sand, cut off any hard parts and drain on a kitchen towel.
- Put some salted water onto boil
- Clean, dry, chop mushrooms about 1/4 think pieces is good.
- Strip the rosemary leave from the stem and chop with the fresh herbs.
- When the water is boiling add the pasta and stir to prevent clumping.
- Melt the butter with 2 tbs olive oil in a sauté pan.
- Sauté all the mushrooms, herbs and garlic on high heat in butter and oil until lightly browned with a hint of crust and tender.
- Season mushrooms with salt and pepper and taste to check.
- Test to see when the pasta is cooked and drain when al dente.
- Place pasta in a shallow serving bowl and add mushrooms and drizzle with a good quality olive oil.
- Serve and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.
Variations
I used a mixture of fresh and frozen mushrooms including cultivated hen-of-the-woods/Maitake (Grifola frondosa), frozen chicken of the woods (Laetiporus sulphureu), Chanterelles (Cantharellus cibarius) that had been “Dry-Fryed” and frozen. If using store brought button mushrooms try adding 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin to the mushrooms when frying and juice from 1/2 lemon at the end for a different flavor.
Recent Comments