Creamy Mushroom Pasta (Without Cream)

Name: Creamy Mushroom Pasta Without Cream
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (60ml); 1 red onion, finely diced; Salt flakes, to taste; 2 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, coarsely crushed; Pinch dried chilli flakes, to taste; 350g Swiss brown mushrooms, finely sliced (12½oz); 500g orecchiette (1lb); 200g grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered; 50g cold butter, diced (2oz); 2 sprigs basil, leaves torn; Freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Orecchiette is a classic pasta from Puglia where it’s often cooked with broccoli, garlic, anchovies and olive oil (see video below). It’s also ideal for this creamy mushroom pasta without cream, inspired by a dish from Lucio Galletto’s beautiful book The Art of Traditional Italian. Lucio’s original recipe includes salsiccia, fennel-spiked Italian pork sausages, and my vegetarian version uses fennel seed to echo that flavour. Whether you’re adding meat or not, the secret to making creamy mushroom pasta without cream is to add some pasta cooking water. A good splash of the starch-rich water that pasta is cooked in gives any sauce a lovely creamy texture without the need to add cream. An old advertising campaign called mushrooms ‘meat for vegetarians’, and I’d suggest that this super quick creamy mushroom pasta is so tasty even die-hard carnivores won’t miss the meat. In autumn, when wild mushrooms appear in farmers’ markets and good greengrocers, you can use gorgeous orange pine mushrooms or meaty slippery jacks instead of the Swiss browns. Leftovers make a great frittata too. Try a glass of Poppelvej Lille, ideally lightly chilled, with this pasta. It’s a delicious soft red wine with good fruit and a lovely crisp finish.

Serves 6 as a starter

Ingredients

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (60ml)
1 red onion, finely diced
Salt flakes, to taste
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, coarsely crushed
Pinch dried chilli flakes, to taste
350g Swiss brown mushrooms, finely sliced (12½oz)
500g orecchiette (1lb)
200g grape or cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
50g cold butter, diced (2oz)
2 sprigs basil, leaves torn
Freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Method

Place oil and onion in a heavy-based frying pan over low heat.
Add a good pinch of salt, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15–20 minutes, until just starting to colour.
Stir in garlic, fennel and chilli and cook for 2–3 minutes, stirring frequently, until aromatic.
Stir in mushroom and a little more salt.
Increase heat to medium, cover and cook for about 5 minutes, until mushrooms are wilted and the liquid they release has evaporated.
Bring a large saucepan of well-salted water to the boil using 10g salt/litre water (⅓oz salt/2 pints water).
Meanwhile, add tomato to the pan and stir for a minute then cover and set aside.
Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until just al dente.
Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking water.
Add pasta to the frying pan with butter, basil and about ½ cup of the cooking water and toss over medium heat for a minute or 2 until well combined and creamy, adding a little more pasta cooking water if necessary to give a creamy consistency.
Top creamy mushroom pasta with parmesan and serve immediately.