Jun 29, 2007
When I did a stint as a vegetarian a couple of years back, I made mushrooms my main meat replacement. I found mushrooms fitted in nicely as a replacement for all kinds of meats, and they go so well with garlic, olive oil, butter, spinach, thyme and all kinds of other flavors. It's worth noting that this is probably not a great idea as a dietary replacement, but it's fine from a "tastes good" point of view.
Last week I make a really good creamy mushrooms on toast - just like you get at the cafe. The star of the dish was the big portobello mushrooms, with the sauce made based on little button mushrooms nearing the end of their life. Add olive oil, butter, white wine vinegar, thyme, garlic and the right amount of cream and it's a perfect Sunday breakfast.
Mushroom Pasta
Taking the concept of the mushrooms on toast, with all those lovely ingredients that just play so nicely together, I turned this simple recipe into a pasta dish. Make a double batch so you have one for the table and one for the freezer.- Portobello mushrooms, halved
- Button or brown mushrooms, chopped finely
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium onion
- One glass of white wine
- 200ml fresh cream
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
- Olive oil, and a good knob of butter
- A medium bunch of spinach
- (optional) 2 chicken thighs
- 250g penne pasta or macaroni
- Salt + pepper
- Grated Parmesan and cheddar cheese to top
Cook the pasta to packet directions, and preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Crush and chop the garlic. Slice or dice the onion. Chop the thyme. Chop the spinach. Dice the button mushrooms really small. Slice the portobello mushrooms in half or quarters if they are really big.
Add all these ingredients to a hot pan with some olive oil and a good knob of butter. Cook for 5 minutes, then take off the heat.
If you are adding chicken to this dish, cook the chicken in the same fry pan, without cleaning in between. There should be enough oil in the pan for the chicken, and plenty of leftover flavor in there. Once the chicken is browned, add the mushroom / spinach mix back to the pan, with a glass of white wine and 200ml cream.
Cook for a few minutes, it should be looking quite wet by this stage (which we want so it can soak into the pasta).
Pasta time
In shallow baking dishes, line the bottom with your cooked pasta. Put a layer of mushroom/chicken mix on top, and stir through if you like. Add a layer of cheese to top (to any thickness you like). A 50/50 mix of fresh Parmesan and tasty cheddar is especially nice.
Cook for about 30 minutes and serve.
