Farfalle with Oyster Mushrooms and Cherry Tomatoes

Name: Farfalle with Oyster Mushrooms and Cherry Tomatoes in Cream Sauce
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Italian cuisine
Ingredients: Farfalle 250 g; Water for cooking the pasta 3 l; Salt for cooking the pasta 21 g (7 g per 1 l of water); Cherry tomatoes 10-12; Oyster mushrooms 150 g; Garlic 2 cloves; Parmesan 50 g; Olive oil 3-4 tbsp; Cream (15-20%) 200-300 ml; Flour 0.5 tsp; Salt, black pepper, nutmeg to taste

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30 mins

Creamy pasta with fresh mushrooms and bits of tomato is an ideal breakfast dish. Another quick breakfast pasta is the one with green beans. Farfalle, the Italian shaped pasta that looks like little bows or butterflies, is very popular in the northern Italian regions of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna. By various accounts, this pasta shape is at least 5 centuries old. Farfalle means “butterfly” in Italian. They come small and large, multicolored and plain. Either way, kids love this pasta. At any rate, it is always easier to come up with a story to get the children to eat breakfast.

Farfalle is a square of dough pinched in the middle. The middle ends up with a thicker layer of dough, so this pasta is always a little undercooked in the center. That is just how it is. Also, since the wings are thin, you have to stir very gently while cooking, or not stir at all. They simply break.

Farfalle usually has a smooth surface, so it holds thin sauces poorly. It is best to make a sauce with large pieces, or a very thick sauce. Alternatively, you can toss cooked farfalle with vegetables, pieces of meat or mushrooms. Still, thick creamy sauces work well too, and farfalle in a cream sauce is the best option.

Do not adjust the cooking time to your own taste. Cook exactly as long as the manufacturer says on the package. In my experience, trying to add or cut the time always ends badly.

Today the pasta was made with farfalle colored in five colors. Judging by the label, the coloring came from spinach, tomatoes, oregano, beetroot and cuttlefish ink. The recommended cooking time is 13 minutes. For the sauce I chose a cream sauce with oyster mushrooms and cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients

2 servings

Farfalle 250 g
Water for cooking the pasta 3 l
Salt for cooking the pasta 21 g (7 g per 1 l of water)
Cherry tomatoes 10-12
Oyster mushrooms 150 g
Garlic 2 cloves
Parmesan 50 g
Olive oil 3-4 tbsp
Cream (15-20%) 200-300 ml
Flour 0.5 tsp
Salt, black pepper, nutmeg to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Preparation

Oyster mushrooms are one of the few mushrooms that do not need much heat treatment, which matters because pasta in a cream sauce is a quick dish. You can cook them in different ways, but it is usually a short process. It is enough to simply fry them or blanch them for 5-10 minutes.

For example, when we make oyster mushroom pizza, we just pour boiling water over the mushrooms for a few minutes and then fry them in butter.

Multicolored farfalle are no longer a rarity in our supermarkets, but nothing stops you from using plain pasta. You are unlikely to taste any difference between pieces of pasta of different colors; it is more a matter of looks and perception.

Put a pot with 3 l of water on high heat and add 21 g of salt (7 g per 1 l of water).

Prepare the oyster mushrooms: sort them, discarding any damaged ones, and be sure to cut off the tips of the stems, because they are tough and fibrous. You should be left with only the so-called petals, the oval, elongated caps. If the petals are small, you can leave them whole. If they are large, you can cut them in half lengthwise.

Mushrooms and sauce

Infuse the oil with garlic. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and let it warm up until it gives off its characteristic smell. Peel the garlic cloves and crush them with the flat of a knife. Fry the garlic in the oil for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly, then discard it. The garlic’s job is to flavor the oil.
Fry the oyster mushrooms in the prepared oil over medium heat. The frying time is up to you. I fry them for about 5-6 minutes, stirring. As soon as the mushrooms start to brown, I consider that enough.
Make the sauce. Transfer the fried mushrooms to a separate plate, add 0.5 tsp of flour to the remaining fat and fry it, stirring, until light golden. Then gradually pour cold cream into the flour and fat mixture, stirring vigorously and breaking up any lumps. Once the sauce comes to a boil, season it lightly with salt and pepper and add a pinch of grated nutmeg. Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes over low heat. The sauce should be as thick as good sour cream, meaning it barely flows.

Pasta and sauce

Drop the pasta into the boiling water, stir gently and cook until done, following the time on the package (13 minutes for mine). Do not stir the pasta while it cooks, as it may fall apart.
Add the prepared oyster mushrooms to the sauce, stir and let the sauce heat through over the lowest heat for 2-3 minutes.
Gently drain the cooked pasta in a colander, or even better, lift it out of the pot with a slotted spoon. Put the pasta on top of the sauce and add the halved cherry tomatoes. Stir everything very carefully with a spatula, lifting from underneath and turning the pasta over, otherwise your creamy pasta will turn into a pile of broken bits.

Serving

Spoon the farfalle with oyster mushroom sauce onto plates. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan. It turned out to be very tasty with a little ground black pepper on top, which makes the creamy pasta even better.
Serve the creamy oyster mushroom pasta right away, while it is still hot.

Calories and macros

1070 kcal

Serving ≈ 460 g

Protein33 g12% of kcal
Fat57 g49% of kcal
Carbs102 g39% of kcal

100 g231 kcalProtein 7 gFat 12.3 gCarbs 22 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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