Pasta – What Jessica Baked Next

Spaghetti with porcini mushroom cream sauce. A great dinner recipe that takes only 15 minutes to prepare.

I’m sharing an easy and quick recipe that would be brilliant for dinner any night of the week. This creamy porcini mushroom pasta is one of my family’s favourite savoury recipes. I love using porcini mushrooms because they have a unique earthy and slightly nutty flavour. A small amount of porcini goes a very long way and just a couple of small handfuls transform this simple cream sauce into something extra special! Porcini are delicious in all kinds of Italian recipes, such as risotto, broths and soups and sauces.

I love making this dish on busy weeknights when I don’t have the energy or time to cook something extravagant for dinner because it takes hardly any time at all to prepare.

The recipe serves 4 very hungry people or 6 for a lighter meal or starter portion. It’s rich, comforting and perfect meal for all seasons! Just make sure you cook your pasta until it’s al dente (it should have bite and be slightly firm) and don’t forget to serve the dish with lots of freshly grated Parmesan and chopped parsley.

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

400-500g dried spaghetti or any other pasta shape

Knob of butter

Good drizzle of olive oil

1 small shallot or onion, finely diced

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

25g dried porcini mushrooms

300ml double cream

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Method:

Place the dried porcini in a small bowl and pour over 200ml of boiling water. Allow them to rehydrate for 5 minutes.
Cook your pasta according to the packet instructions.
Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan or saucepan. Sauté the diced shallot/onion and garlic until it’s soft and has become transparent.
Drain the porcini from the mushroom stock and set the liquid aside. Finely chop the drained porcini and add to the pan. Add the mushroom stock and simmer for 1-2 minutes until the stock has slightly reduced.
Turn the heat down to low and add the cream. Allow the cream to simmer for a few minutes until it has thickened. Finally, add the drained pasta to sauce and toss to coat. At this point I like to toss through a nice handful of grated Parmesan. It adds gorgeous salty flavour! Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes:

For my original recipe posted in March 2014 I used homemade pasta, however dried or fresh pasta can be used.
I recommend cooking the pasta until it’s al dente, so a few minutes less than the packet instructions advise.