“A rich mushroom sauce with ‘bow tie’ pasta. This is a great dish for people that love their mushrooms”

• 25 g dried porcini mushrooms
• 900 g fresh mushrooms
• 50 g unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 bunch fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 1 small sprig fresh rosemary, leaves only, finely minced
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 450 g farfalle ‘bow ties’ pasta
• parmesan, freshley grated

Soak the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl of warm water for at least 20 minutes.  Before using, carefully drain the porcini and wash carefully, making sure that no sand clings to the mushrooms.  Cut off and remaining hard pieces.

Using a damp paper towel, carefully wipe and dirt off the fresh mushrooms.  Do not soak them in water!  Trim the fresh mushroom stems and slice lengthways into pieces approximately 5mm thick.

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a large sauté pan.  Fry the porcini and fresh mushrooms together over high heat with the herbs and garlic until the mushrooms are tender.  Add salt and pepper at the end of cooking.

Cook the pasta to packet instructions.  Drain well and add to the mushroom sauce with a drizzle of olive oil, mix and serve immediately with parmesan available for garnishing.

Notes : This recipe used way too many mushrooms.  Next time I make this, I’m going to reduce by at least a quarter of the amount of porcini and fresh mushrooms.

Source : Pasta Fresca by Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman Page 136

Servings/Yield : 4-6 servings

Rating : 4 out of 5

Difficulty : Moderately Easy

Course : Main

Tags: firenze, florence, funghi, italian, mushrooms, pasta, recipe, viana la place