04/11 UNEXPECTED FUNGI
Sometimes your fridge takes you on a most unexpected journey. Pasta often sends me in all directions, the urge to fork slippery strands into my mouth leading on. Also its deceptively easy to throw things together with the illusion of having a plan. Which is exactly how this fungi fettuccini came about. My aversion to red pasta sauces, so often just glugged out of a jar, means I do anything possible to make non-tomato pasta. I was also cooking for someone who despises parsley so we ended up in a Scandi-mediterranean tangle.
Exorcising tradition once again, the only part cooked is the pasta. All other ingredients are raw, but change character as they succumb to the pasta's scalding tentacles. The sauce ends up buttery and sharp, with a strong headiness from the musky mushrooms, walnuts and dill. Fettuccini got lost in a Scandinavian forrest and ensnared the wild mushrooms, a long way from home.
Ingredients (all approximate) - for two
200g Pasta (100g per head)
500g Mushroom
Large bunch fresh Dill
100g Walnuts
50g Parmesan
2 Lemons
50g Butter
Salt & Pepper
What I did -
Not essential, but I did take a moment to make the pasta. It's beyond m simple, and I enjoy regimenting my day (only ever bother on a day off) according to what needs to be prepared and when, leaving the time in-between to potter around. I use Stephanie Alexander's recipe but use whatever flat pasta your have/find.
The water for boiling the pasta should have the salinity of the sea - reducing the salt needed later - so shake it in. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to cook the pasta if fresh, a little longer if dried, but make sure it still has some bite to it as it needs to carry the mushrooms.
While boiling slice the mushrooms into a large bowl, thin and flat. Juice the two lemons, don't fuss about pips or pulp get it all in there. Finely chop the dill and blanket over. Chop the walnuts roughly in a separate bowl.
By this stage the pasta should be perfect, but check as you go. Strain it quickly, leaving it wet to touch. Return to pot and add the chunk of butter. Stir through as it melts, slicking all the tendrils. Add the walnuts and stir through again. The butter and walnuts should melt a thick woody dressing, time to cut though it with the lemon-mushrooms.
100g Walnuts
50g Parmesan
2 Lemons
50g Butter
Salt & Pepper
What I did -
Not essential, but I did take a moment to make the pasta. It's beyond m simple, and I enjoy regimenting my day (only ever bother on a day off) according to what needs to be prepared and when, leaving the time in-between to potter around. I use Stephanie Alexander's recipe but use whatever flat pasta your have/find.
The water for boiling the pasta should have the salinity of the sea - reducing the salt needed later - so shake it in. It shouldn't take more than 5 minutes to cook the pasta if fresh, a little longer if dried, but make sure it still has some bite to it as it needs to carry the mushrooms.
While boiling slice the mushrooms into a large bowl, thin and flat. Juice the two lemons, don't fuss about pips or pulp get it all in there. Finely chop the dill and blanket over. Chop the walnuts roughly in a separate bowl.
By this stage the pasta should be perfect, but check as you go. Strain it quickly, leaving it wet to touch. Return to pot and add the chunk of butter. Stir through as it melts, slicking all the tendrils. Add the walnuts and stir through again. The butter and walnuts should melt a thick woody dressing, time to cut though it with the lemon-mushrooms.
Tip the fungi bowl in and stir everything through, amalgamating the lemon with the butter and mushrooms with the pasta. Let sit for a few minutes, the mushrooms will warm through and soften. Unfurl the pots contents back into the large bowl. Grate on curls of parmesan and any leftover dill. White wine. Bon fungi.
JG
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