I have been craving for carb-ladden comfort foods the past 2 weeks and in particular, I've been craving for pasta with creamy porcini sauce! Porcini mushrooms have an earthly almost perfume-like fragrance that pairs up well with a robust cream sauce. However, now that I am back at work (12 hours days and sickening markets), the desire to cook has considerably waned. So I had to reach out for the next best thing...writing about my favourite pasta recipe. Just thinking of my creamy porcini mushroom sauce with ravioli is enough to put a smile on my face. This is dish I whipped up during my days of leisure (how i miss those days). You can use any pasta you like but I had a pack of premium lamb sausage sitting in the fridge which I wanted to wrap up in pasta sheets. Hence, I went with ravioli made from semolina flour (for a chewier bite) and a parmesan lamb sausage filling. Ravioli aside. the star of the dish has to be the earthy, aromatic. rich porcini sauce. Here's my simple recipe:
1. Start with soaking dry porcini mushrooms in 200ml of room temperature water for at least 30 mins and keep the soaking liquid as this contains all the beautiful aromas of the porcini.
2. Slice up a bunch of mushroom. I went with white button and shitake but you can go with anything kind you fancy.
3. Finely chop 1 clove of garlic and shallot.
4. Heat up the pan with good olive oil and sweat your garlic and shallots without colouring them too much. Add the mushrooms and turn up the heat.
5. When the mushrooms turn slightly soft, deglaze the pan with a splash of sherry. Let the alcohol evaporate before throwing in the porcini mushroom and the soaking liquid.
6. Turn down the heat to let the sauce simmer and reduce slightly before adding in your cream. Let the sauce reduce further and finish off with salt, sugar, freshly grounded pepper and a knob of butter.
7. Toss the pasta of your choice in the sauce and serve immediately! Comfort food at its bestLabels: cream sauce, porcini mushroom, Ravioli recipe
