There are two posts about fresh pasta with mushrooms on this blog already: pappardelle with fresh porcini and pappardelle with dried porcini and fresh mushrooms. There are two reasons for yet another post. The first one is that during our latest trip to Italy I noticed that pasta with mushrooms was often prepared with even less ingredients. Only fresh pasta, butter or olive oil, mushrooms, salt, and perhaps a bit of parsley. No onion, no garlic, not even grated parmigiano. I also noticed that this made the mushrooms shine. And so I wanted to share such a simple recipe with you. It really is simple, provided you have some practice making fresh pasta. (If you haven’t, this is an ideal recipe to practice you fresh pasta skills with, as everything else is quick and easy).

The second reason was already revealed to you in my previous post: I bought this really nice box of wild mushrooms. I used it to prepare a mushroom menu that consisted of turbot with mushrooms (post to follow), pasta with mushrooms, and quail with mushrooms. The woody aroma of the wild mushrooms is just wonderful and this is a great dish to showcase that aroma.

Ingredients

For 3-4 servings

600 grams (1.3 lb) mixed wild mushrooms

2 Tbsp butter (or extra virgin olive oil)

salt

freshly ground black pepper (optional)

1/2 Tbsp minced fresh flat leaf parsley (optional)

For the pasta

3 eggs

150 grams (1 cup) Italian 00 flour

150 grams (1 cup) semola di grano duro rimacinato (semolina flour)

Preparation

Make pasta dough, roll it out, and cut into narrow ribbons. For this type of pasta I like to use a blend of 00 and grano duro. The first keeps it light and supple, while the latter provides more flavor and texture.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While you are waiting for the water to boil, clean the mushrooms and roughly chop them.

Heat 2 tablespoons of butter (or extra virgin olive oil) in a frying pan and add the mushrooms. Season with salt.

Stir over medium heat until the mushrooms are done and the liquid released by the mushrooms has been reduced to an adequate quantity to coat the pasta. Depending on the mushrooms that will take only a few minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning of the mushrooms with salt (and freshly ground black pepper if you like, but go easy on the pepper as the purpose of this recipe was to let the mushrooms shine).

When the water boils, add salt and the tagliolini. Cook for about a minute, drain, and add to the mushrooms. It may be a good idea to reserve some of the pasta water to add if the pasta becomes too dry. Toss to mix.

Serve at once on preheated plates, sprinkled with a bit of parsley.

Wine pairing

If you can find an elegant Barbaresco that is not too tannic or too acidic, that would be an exellent choice. Produttori del Barbaresco 2004 would be great.

An oaked white would also be nice, as the wood of the mushrooms will work well with the wood in the wine.

Flashback

Sometimes I create dishes that were inspired by dishes I had at gourmet restaurants. Langoustine tartare with mandarin and bottarga certainly was such a dish.