Mushrooms and Pasta

Hey there! After a long absence (being vacation then being sick) I'm back with another tasty recipe. I don't know about you, but I have those days where I want homemade food, but I just don't want to make a giant fuss out of it. Lately, I have to get up at 4.15 in the morning to go to work, make food all day, then come home needing something for dinner. These busy days where I just don't feel like doing a bunch of cooking is where I rely on easy pastas, my favourite of which are mushroom-based pasta dishes. This particular pasta with mushrooms and marscapone cheese is so easy and quick to make, and it looks like a million bucks. Also, it's pretty inexpensive to make, and that's always a plus. To top it all off, this dish takes between a half hour and 45 minutes to pull off. Did someone say perfect weeknight meal?

Just a note: I used chantarelles and portobello mushrooms in my pasta, which can get a bit pricey sometimes, but you can use regular button mushrooms or mixed packs. If you're a regular mushroom hunter, then by all means use an abundance of wild mushrooms in your pasta for an extra punch of flavour that's light on the wallet.

What You'll Need

2 servings

• 1 (250 g) pack fresh pasta of choice
• 500 g mushrooms of choice (I used 2 large portobello mushrooms and 300 g chantarelles)
• 2 onions, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
• 100 ml white wine
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
• 250 g marscapone cheese
• 250 ml whipping cream (48%)
• 2 chopped fresh parsley
• juice of 3/4 lemon
• 50 - 60 g freshly grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper​
• 4 tbsp oil
• ½ baguette of choice

Instructions

For the Pasta:

1. Clean and slice your mushrooms into equal-sized chunks to ensure equal cooking.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil on high heat in a large pan.
3. When the pan is just about smoking, carefully add mushrooms and brown approximately 3-4 minutes. 
4. While mushrooms are cooking, begin heating your salted water for pasta.
5. Turn down heat to medium-high and add chopped onion to pan.
6. Sweat onions 2-3 minutes until translucent.
7. Add 3 cloves crushed garlic and fresh thyme.
8. Fry 1-2 minutes.
9. Add white wine and cook until reduced down to 1/4 of the original amount.
10. Reduce heat to medium.
11. Add marscapone and stir until melted.
12. Add cream and lemon, mixing well.
13. Allow sauce to bubble and reduce approximately 10 - 15 minutes until thickened.
14. Season sauce with salt and pepper. 
15. Add approximately 45-50 g grated parmesan, reserving some to grate over the top.
16. Add parsley and stir well.
17. Turn heat to low while you finish cooking your pasta, which should take a few minutes if using fresh pasta. 
18. Reserve a bit of your pasta water to thin out your sauce if it gets too thick.
19. Add pasta to sauce, and mix well.
20. Serve with a side of garlic croutons, freshly grated parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper over the top.

For the Garlic Croutons:

1. Cut baguette into slices. The more you angle your knife, the longer your slices of bread will be.
2. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and fry baguette slices on each side until golden.
3. Carefully rub a skinless clove of garlic over the top of toast.
4. Serve with a bit of grated parmesan, a bit of salt, and sprinkling of freshly chopped parsley.

Final Thoughts

As I've stated above, when you drain your pasta, it's a good idea to save a couple cups of the boiling liquid. If your pasta sauce gets a bit to thick (which can also happen after you add your pasta in), then you can use the flavourful pasta water to thin it out a bit so it's not so gloopy. We're going for creamy here, people. 

I hope you all enjoy this recipe as much as we do here. You can find a printable and shareable version of the recipe here, or you can use the links below to be kind and share with all your friends on social media! Feel free to leave a comment, too. If you want to see some of my other recipes, check out my recipes page.

Until next time, keep on being chefy.