Brunos Porcini Pasta Cream Sauce And Pappardelle

This Porcini Pasta recipe was given to my by my good friend Bruno. We met in Rome when I lived there and have been friends ever since. He, like most Italian men, is a really good cook.

I asked him for a unique Italian Pasta Recipe!

He sent me an email with this recipe telling me, "This is what I made last night".

I made it 2 days later!

Porcini mushrooms have a deep, rich flavor. It's difficult to find them fresh here but the dried porcini mushrooms work really well for this vegetable pasta recipe. The water from soaking the mushrooms is used to make the rich and creamy sauce.

I like to use pappardelle pasta shape with this porcini pasta recipe because it's like a long sheet of paper that give the creamy sauce more space to cover. It's like this pasta was made just for this pasta dish. You can use fettucini though and it's just as good!

Porcini Pasta Ingredients:

1 lb Pappardelle or Fettucini pasta cooked al dente
2 cloves of crushed garlic
3 tbsp chopped Italian parsley
1 cup dried porcini mushrooms soaked in 1 cups of hot water for 1 hour
cup of red wine
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbs. olive oil

It's important to bring some water to boiling and then pour it over your dried porcini mushrooms. This will make them nice and tender and bring out the full flavor of the mushrooms. Let them sit for at least an hour.

Preparing the Porcini Pasta:

You should try to time cooking your pasta to be ready when the sauce is. You will add it to the pan that you're making the sauce to saute together when it's ready. I suggest boiling the water now and then add the pasta when the instructions suggest.

Once the porcini mushrooms have soaked, drain them but save the water.
In a deep sauce pan drizzle in some Olive oil and heat on med heat.
Crush the garlic in the pan and stir for about 1 minute then add the porcini mushrooms.
Add the red wine and let the liquid absorb.
Then add the porcini mushroom water and simmer on medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Now is a good time to add the pasta to the boiling water. Be delicate with the pappardelle. You don't want it to break.

Once the pasta is in the water, stir the cream into the porcini mushroom sauce and add your salt and pepper. Let it simmer and thicken for until the pasta is cooked.

Drain the pasta and rinse delicately in cold water to stop the cooking process. Now add the pasta to the sauce and toss or fold the pasta into the porcini mushroom sauce.

Sprinkle with the Italian parsley.

Bellisima!

You can serve this Italian pasta recipe with Parmigiano but it isn't necessary. I don't because I want to taste the rich flavor of the porcini pasta sauce.

Try some more exciting vegetable pasta recipes such as Zucchini pasta or Pasta with Arugula!