Tis the season here in New England (although the conditions are mostly too dry) for mushroom foraging. As I say every time I post something foraging related, please do not eat mushroom that you have collected yourself if you don’t know what you are doing. They can kill you, or even if they don’t kill you, can make you really darn sick. I have been mushroom foraging since I was literally a toddler (I found my first chanterelles when I couldn’t barely walk), so not to worry about me.
So this weekend, up in Maine, these lovely chanterelles were found. I had enough for this meal and there will be one more recipe from this round as well. This pasta dish was very yummy and very pepper-y. Chanterelles are pretty peppery to begin with and then this pepper cream sauce was really lush. Four stars, I’d definitely make it again!
Ingredients
10 oz spoon-sized pasta (I used campanelle, “trumpet pasta”)
1 pound chanterelle mushrooms, cut, if larger than spoon sized
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoon mascarpone or sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and lots of freshly ground pepper
2-3 tablespoons heavy cream (optional)
Directions
Bring salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package instructions. Drain and reserve approximately 1/2 cup of the cooking water. In the meantime, clean chanterelle mushrooms. Mince the garlic. Finely chop the leaves of parsley.
Heat the butter in a large frying pan and once melted, sauté chanterelle mushrooms for approximately 5-6 minutes Add garlic and half of the parsley and sauté for approximately 3-4 minutes more. Deglaze with white wine and let simmer for approximately 5 minutes more, or until the wine has reduced. Add reserved pasta cooking water, and mascarpone cheese / sour cream and stir to combine. If the mushroom mixture is too thick, add in a bit of cream.
Remove from the heat and add salt, lots of pepper and lemon juice. Add cooked pasta, and remaining parsley. Toss to coat the pasta in sauce, and do a final season with salt and pepper to taste.
