My fall favourite recipe – a vegetarian delight, focused on the rich woodsy flavour of mushrooms. Whether you pick your own mushrooms, or buy them from the store, using them in this recipe will sure to be a hit.
This recipe doubles easily.
Ingredients
Directions
Soak dried mushrooms in boiling water to cover, weigh down the mushrooms with a lid or a plate so they stay submerged. Soak for at least 30 minutes.
Strain mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid. Squeeze mushrooms, trim off any tough parts, and mince the soaked mushrooms.
Strain the soaking liquid through fine-mesh sieve into a glass measuring cup. You should have about 1/2 cup or a little more.
Set both minced rehydrated mushrooms and mushroom-soaking liquid aside.
Wash fresh mushrooms, trim them, and slice them. Set aside.
Fill a large pot with water. Add 1 Tb of salt. Place on high heat and bring to a boil.
Meanhwile, melt butter in large sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté shallots until softened, a few minutes. Add garlic and thyme, sauté until fragrant, 10 to 20 seconds.
Add prepared fresh mushrooms, rehydrated dried mushrooms, salt & pepper. Stir and sauté for several minutes, until mushrooms start to give off liquid. Keep sautéing until the mushrooms are dry.
Deglaze pan with sherry, stirring well. Add the reserved mushroom-soaking liquid and bring to a simmer. Simmer until reduced to a glaze. Add the 1/3 cup of whipping cream and simmer gently.
Around this time, the big pot of water should be boiling. Add pasta to the boiling water and stir well. Cook pasta for 8 to 10 minutes, until your preferred doneness.
Scoop about 2/3 cup of the pasta-cooking liquid out of the pot and reserve. Drain pasta and add to pan with the mushrooms, along with half of the reserved pasta-cooking water.
Add remaining 2 to 3 tablespoons of the whipping cream. Simmer and stir for a minute of two untile the sauce is creamy and clinging to the pasta.
Stir in the grated parmigiana cheese and the chopped freah parsley. Taste to adjust seasonings – it may need more salt or pepper. If the sauce is too thick, stir in the remaining pasta-cooking water.