Porcini Mushroom Pasta
Ingredients
2 servings
For the sauce
- Porcini mushrooms 2-3
- Olive oil 1 tbsp
- Butter 1 tbsp
- Flour 1 tsp (3 g)
- Cream or milk 50 ml
- Salt, black pepper to taste
- Sugar optional
For the pasta
- Fettuccine pasta 250 g
- Water for cooking the pasta 2.5 l
- Salt for the pasta water 18 g
For serving
- Parmesan (grated) 1 tbsp (7 g)
- Parsley 1-2 sprigs
- Cherry tomatoes 3-4
Step-by-step recipe
Porcini
It’s a scientific fact that porcini pasta tastes many times better when you picked the mushrooms yourself. The mushrooms should be young and fresh, with no signs of having been nibbled by pests of any kind. You can also make the dish with boiled and frozen mushrooms.
Sort the mushrooms, rinse them, cut off any damaged parts and scrape the stems, cleaning them as thoroughly as possible.
Well, the usual routine, although in my opinion it’s enough to rub the mushrooms with a sponge and wash them. Every part of a porcino is edible.
Be sure to cut off the very bottom of the stem to make sure there are no worms. Cut the mushrooms into large cubes or slices.
Fry the chopped mushrooms in a frying pan in 1 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat for 10 mins, stirring constantly, until lightly golden. That way the aroma and flavor of the mushrooms come through in full.
Porcini don’t darken when boiled, so if in doubt, you can boil them briefly first, just 10 mins in plain water without salt or spices. Don’t pour out the broth: you can cook the pasta in it.
Cream sauce
Melt the butter in a deep saucepan over low heat. Add 1 tsp of flour (3 g), stir so there are no lumps, and lightly fry over low heat until it just starts to change color. Pour in the milk or cream and stir to get a not too thick sauce with the consistency of sour cream.
This is how basic béchamel sauce is made.
Season with pepper and salt to taste. You can add a little sugar if you like, but that’s a matter of taste. Simmer the cream sauce, covered, for 5 mins at a very gentle boil.
Add the prepared porcini to the sauce, stir gently and simmer over low heat for no more than 5 mins.
Pasta
The type of pasta for this dish doesn’t really matter, but in Italy it’s customary to use long, wide pasta. Tagliatelle, fettuccine, pappardelle and the like all work well. But Italian cooks most often use fettuccine.
Meanwhile, bring 2.5 l of water to a boil in a large pot and salt it at 7 g of salt per 1 l of water. If you boiled the porcini beforehand, it makes sense to cook the pasta in the mushroom broth. Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook uncovered, stirring, for the time given on the package: the manufacturer guarantees the pasta will be al dente in that time.
Drain the cooked pasta in a colander and let the water run off. Combine the porcini sauce with the cooked pasta and toss.
Serving
Put the pasta on plates and sprinkle with grated Parmesan and finely chopped parsley. Add a few halved cherry tomatoes and a sprig of herbs.
Serve the porcini pasta right away, only hot.
It’s delicious, makes a good breakfast and keeps you full right up to lunch. You can always add other spices to the dish if you like, but remember that nothing compares to the aroma of fresh forest mushrooms.
Calories and macros
650 kcal
Serving ≈ 230 g
- Protein18 g12% of kcal
- Fat19 g28% of kcal
- Carbs93 g60% of kcal
100 g284 kcalProtein 8 gFat 8.5 gCarbs 41 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.