Pâte aux Champignons
Pâte aux Champignons
I don’t usually use cream in savoury dishes but when I bought these beautiful mushrooms, there was only one way to use them. You could use crème fraîche if you fancy or go vegan and swap to vegan cream and butter with maybe add a splash of white wine. I would recommend looking for a variety of mushrooms which will add to the taste and of course, the look. This is the perfect comfort dish and celebrates some in season produce.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
450g mushrooms (I used girolles, oyster and chestnut)
3 garlic cloves, diced
1 banana shallot, diced
4 tbsp olive oil
55g unsalted butter
Handful tarragon leaves
4-5 tbsp double cream
180g spaghetti
1 tbsp chopped parsley
Grana Padano to finish
100-120ml starchy pasta water
Salt and pepper
Set a large frying pan to a medium to high heat and dry fry half the mushrooms until golden. About 3-4 mins per batch. Remember not to touch them until you want to turn them over. This will mean they will go golden and if you move them around the pan too much they will go mushy. Once you have done half the mushrooms. Add 1/4 of the butter and half the olive oil to the pan and let this melt, then add another batch of the mushrooms. Fry until soft and golden on all sides. Season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook to the last mushroom batch in the same way and add all fried mushrooms onto a plate. Using the same pan, add another 1/4 of the butter and spoon of olive oil to warm and add the shallots. Fry for 2 mins before adding in the garlic and fry for 1 min. Then add the last of the butter, fried mushrooms and tarragon and combine for 1 min. Don’t over mix!
When you start the last batch of mushrooms, start on the pasta! Set a large saucepan to a high heat and boil some water. Salt the water and cook the pasta to the packet’s instructions. Towards the end, save 120ml starchy pasta water and put to one side. Drain the pasta and add to the mushroom pan. Add the cream and half of the pasta water. Toss together and season generously with salt and pepper. Add more water if needed and then plate up straight away with parsley, extra olive oil and cheese on top!