Easy but impressive pasta and mushroom sauce (Vegetarian)

Member Name: caro

Product:	Vegetarian
Date:	20/06/01 (3226 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes good, uses fresh ingredients, quick and easy to prepare

Disadvantages: Not low fat, low calorie (if that concerns you)

I love cooking, but have two reservations in choosing recipes. First, I’m vegetarian; second, I hate meals which rely on split-second co-ordination and timing. If I’m cooking for friends I want to be relaxed enough to enjoy their company, not running around with a stopwatch!

This recipe is ideal for cooking if you’ve been at work all day and don’t have time to prepare anything in advance. (For even quicker preparation, if you’re organised, you can cook the sauce the day before and reheat it while the pasta cooks, so the whole thing takes a grand total of about ten minutes). It isn’t going to win prizes for being low-fat health food, but is delicious and simple. It is healthy in that it uses all fresh ingredients (most of which are readily available in organic ranges): no 'cheats' with tinned soup or the like. Best of all, the sauce can be cooked in just one pan to minimise washing up. Quantities aren’t precise – improvise and taste as you go along!

PASTA WITH CREAMY MUSHROOM SAUCE
Serves 2-4

INGREDIENTS:
Fresh mushrooms – use a variety, eg chestnut mushrooms (the brown ones, which have a lot more flavour than ordinary button mushrooms and hold their texture and size better); oyster mushrooms; flat mushrooms (sometimes called field mushrooms; again, a lot more flavour than button mushrooms. Portobello mushrooms are similar). Quantities are up to you – depending upon portion size, how much sauce you like, etc - but as a very rough guide, a small packet of oyster mushrooms, about three flat mushrooms and about a dozen or so chestnut mushrooms will serve three people.

Dried porcini or wild mushroom selection – about a third of one of those small bags, I suppose. These will swell substantially as you soak them.

Olive oil

A tub of mascarpone cheese

Garlic (a couple of cloves)

White wine or madeira (you can
use brandy, but only very sparingly or the sauce will be sweet)

Herbs – if you have fresh ones these are best; good ones for this recipe include oregano and basil

Black pepper (freshly ground is best)

Pasta – fresh is nicest. Tagliatelle always goes well with mushroom sauce, but the shape of your choice is fine (smoother shapes somehow seem to work better).


METHOD:
First, break the dried mushrooms into smallish pieces (not crumbs!) and put them in a mug or small bowl of boiling water. They need to stay there for about twenty minutes to half an hour, until soft, so do this before you do anything else.

Then, chop the mushrooms. Cut different varieties into different shapes, it will make the sauce more interesting: for example, quarter the chestnut mushrooms; cut the oyster mushrooms into strips.

Crush the garlic. Heat some olive oil in a pan (high-sided frying pan is ideal) and add the garlic and mushrooms.

Fry the mushrooms until browned.

Add the alcohol, make sure the heat is right up and boil it until it reduces.

Add the mascarpone – anywhere between half the tub and all of it, depending upon how many mushrooms you’ve used and how thick you like the sauce. Stir it well.

Add the soaked dried mushrooms and herbs, and pepper to taste. Stir well until the mascarpone has melted well and let it simmer for a few minutes until everything has combined and the herbs have softened.

The sauce can now be served or left to simmer on a low heat, or can cool and be reheated.

Depending on how much time you have, and how good you are at timing things, either start cooking the pasta in boiling water around the time you add the alcohol, or do it when the sauce is done. (The best way, in terms of time and saving energy, is to boil the water in the kettle and just bring it back to the boil in the saucepan).

When
the pasta is cooked, drain it and put in bowls or plates; top with the sauce. It’s good served with salad and bread.



VARIATIONS

If you can’t get mascarpone, you can use double cream.

You can cut down on the mushrooms and add black olives (pitted!) and sundried or sunblush tomatoes. This is particularly useful if you can only get one sort of mushroom. You can also add other vegetables such as broccoli.

Leave out the alcohol if you prefer or don’t drink. (If your only concern is your alcohol intake, note that heating it boils out the alcohol anyway!).

Summary: