Creamiest Mushroom Pasta
A trilogy of fresh mushrooms lends a warm embrace to pasta, their earthiness cutting through the creaminess of an unapologetically-rich sauce, thickened with a roux of butter and flour.
Ingredients
- 250 dried pasta of choice (linguini or even pappardelle would work well).
Mushrooms
- 2 tbsp cooking oil of choice (I used Black & Green’s Avocado Oil; you can also use extra virgin olive oil)
- 240 gm mixed mushrooms, scrubbed clean and sliced (I used a mix of Baby Bella; King Portobello and White Button mushrooms from Enzu Life) *
- 3 -4 garlic cloves , minced
- ½ tsp black pepper
For The Roux & Creamy Sauce
- 1 cup milk
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- ¾-1 cup parmesan cheese (depending on how cheesy you’d like it!)
Instructions
Cook The Pasta
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet, until the pasta is just shy of al dente. Drain the pasta; but reserve 1 cup of the pasta water.
Cook The Mushrooms
- While the pasta is cooking, heat 2 tbsp of your chosen cooking oil in a large skillet (over medium heat). Add the mushrooms and black pepper, sautéeing continuously until they have browned (8 – 10 minutes).
- Once softened, add the minced garlic and cook for another couple of minutes until fragrant. Season with salt and set aside. { Remember that garlic doesn’t need very long to cook and it could burn if added any earlier. Similarly, adding salt too early will let out the extra moisture from the mushrooms, causing them to become soggy. }
Make The Roux & Creamy Sauce
- Melt the butter over medium heat in the same skillet in which you cooked the mushrooms. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about a minute or so (to prevent any raw flour flavour from lingering).
- Slowly add the milk and then the cheese, whisking to mix it in evenly. Reduce the heat to low and let the sauce cook at a lively simmer until it thickens and reaches a creamy consistency.
- Add in the cooked pasta and mushrooms to the sauce, along with a splash of pasta water (add as much of the pasta water as you need to achieve your desired consistency). Toss with tongs until the pasta is evenly coated with the sauce and the mushrooms are stirred through.
- Serve hot with a crack of black pepper on top and a drizzle of truffle oil (optional).
