Here at the Food on Fridays carnival, any post remotely related to food is welcome—though we love to try new dishes, your post doesn’t have to be a recipe.If you want, you could join the book club at TheHighCalling.org and post your responses to the essays in The Spirit of Food; because, you see, we’re pretty relaxed over here. Posts like that are as welcome as menus and recipes.When your Food on Fridays contribution is ready, just grab the broccoli button (the big one above or smaller option at the bottom) to paste at the top of your post. It ties us together visually.
Food on Fridays with Ann
I meant to post from The Spirit of Food: 34 Writers on Feasting and Fasting toward God today, but I ran out of time. I had to prepare grades, a devotional and a writing lesson for two classes I facilitate for home-school students.So instead of a heartfelt response to the beautiful essays in The Spirit of Food, I decided to share this mushroom sauce recipe with you.Yesterday I planned to make spaghetti with red sauce for the kids, but I wanted something different.A little tub of mushrooms served as inspiration. After scanning several recipes online, this one stood out: “Creamy Mushroom Sauce and Homemade Pasta.”I didn’t make the pasta from scratch, but I did make the sauce. Creamy Mushroom Pasta adapted from allrecipes
- 8 oz of fresh or store-bought fettuccine (I used spaghetti)
- 1 1/2 Tbsps olive oil, separated (1/2 Tbsp for pasta water and 1 Tbsp for sauce)
- 1 shallot or small onion, chopped (I used a shallot because I can digest those better)
- 3 cloves of garlic, chopped (I didn’t use quite that much garlic)
- 4 oz of fresh mushrooms, chopped (I used a full tub, which I think is 8 oz)
- 1/2 Tbsp of unsalted butter (I used 1 Tbsp for more sauce)
- 1 Tbsp of All Purpose flour (I used 1 1/2 or 2 Tbsp for more sauce)
- 1/4 – 1/2 of a chicken or vegetable bouillon cube dissolved in 1/4 C water or 1/4th cup of chicken/vegetable broth (I used that or more for more sauce)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream (I used a little more to make more sauce)
- 2 Tbsp sage (original recipe said, ‘trust me!’)
- salt and pepper to taste (don’t use too much salt if you use bouillon b/c it is salty—I used broth, so I added salt)
Prepare pasta water and pasta:Bring a large pot of lightly-salted and oiled water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 minutes (2-3 minutes for homemade pasta!), or until al dente. Reserve some of the pasta water to thin out the mushroom sauce later.
While waiting for the pasta water to boil, make the sauce: Heat olive oil in a medium skillet or saucepan over medium heat, and cook shallots and garlic until transparent. Stir in mushrooms, and cook until tender. Add the butter, and add the flour after the butter melts to form a roux to thicken the sauce. Stir the roux with the sautéed vegetables for 2-3 minutes to cook out the flour taste. (Don’t forget about the boiling water for the pasta.) Mix in heavy cream, broth (or bouillon cube water), and sage. Cook and stir until thickened. If too thick, use some pasta water (i.e., the leftover water from the cooked pasta) to thin out the sauce a bit. You can either toss the sauce with cooked pasta, and season with salt and pepper to serve, or add salt and pepper in the sauce, and serve it atop the pasta.
I made it. I ate it. I loved it.
Sounds tasty and looks appetizing! As you can tell, I like mushroom sauces (or the make believe kind in a can).
Thank you, Ann for hosting Food on Fridays. Always enjoy being here. Would like to join your book club but you know how busy life can get. I really enjoyed the piece on the onion.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Janis
Your mushroom sauce looks wonderful! I love the flavours in it – and I really like the ‘trust me’ with the sage 🙂
I still have not managed to get hold of a copy of The Spirit of Food – time keeps slipping away from me – but I’m loving reading the essays written about it!
I’m hosting a new foodie blog hop with Alex of A Moderate Life called ‘Feed Me Tweet Me Follow Me Home’ which everyone is welcome to join in with – details are in my recipe post if you’d like to find some new foodie friends 🙂
Thank you for hosting, and have a lovely weekend!
I bought some mushrooms at the farmers’ market last weekend, and I hadn’t a clue what I would do with them. I think I have the ingredients to make this tonight! Hooray! Thanks for the inspiration.
Sounds like life took a turn down busy street, for this week at least. I’m praying for you!
This sounds delicious! This recipe is very similar to how I make my beef stroganoff so I am quite sure I would love it. I love sage.
That looks wonderful….but alas, I am the only one in my house who will eat funugs.
fungus 😀
This looks absolutely de-lish, Ann! However, I’m in the same boat as Sarah. A non-fungus eating household here.
I hope you get a chance to post on some of the book club essays this week! The last one particularly touched me this time, but they were all good (of course).
See you round the network!
That looks delicious! I came over today to see if you had posted on the Spirit of Food this week. I don’t know if I will. I felt so hushed by much of what I read, and I feel like if I say something I might just wreck it. 😉
I look forward to the Spirit of Food discussion tomorrow, and I’m putting this recipe in my files!
O WOW, that looks amazing, I’m absolutely going to make this. My husband is pro-fungus, like myself, so this is something I’d cook for him and me to eat while the kids have their Highly Nutritious (not!) Pasta with Butter And Salt favorite dinner in the world.
I discovered your blog looking for a way to make steel cut oats in my crockpot without them burning (love the double boiler idea!), stuck around to see what you were writing about, found this shroom recipe, and immediately subscribed. Delighted to have found you!!!
peace,
Jennifer
The recipe is 10 out of 10, the “making the sauce part”- is 0! You absolutely forgot to mention when the broth goes in (or assumed that everybody knows it) If it’s not important, then put “not important “! I’m just an amature cook, so to someone like me these things MATTER, I’m not even sure if it turned out the way it was supposed to.If I read the instructions wrong- my apologies, if I didnt-get it right next time… ;(
So sorry, Dmitry–you’re right! That step is missing!
I am having troubles with my blog at the moment and cannot get to the dashboard, but when I can, I will definitely edit this to insert that step! Truly, just an oversight. I’m so sorry!
Dmitry, I wanted to let you know that I read it through and remembered how flexible this recipe is. I just updated the post to reflect where the broth can be added, but it could be stirred into the sauce at any point. It just adds some flavor. Again, I apologize that I left that out.