Maura and I made incredible pasta for supper tonight. Mushrooms were on sale last week, and I’d bought a pound and a half of them. The initial plan was just to sautee them and eat them on toast–which, a little embarrassingly, is maybe my favorite thing to do with mushrooms–but they were starting to look slimy and we needed supper.
The pasta pot went on the stove right away. Maura set to work cleaning and chopping the mushrooms, and I cut up four pieces of bacon and tossed it into a hot skillet. When the fat had rendered out, a chopped shallot and five cloves of slivered garlic were added. A minute or two later, Maura started adding mushrooms.
We bumped up the heat to medium high, and Maura stirred the mushrooms while they browned a little. Once the mushrooms were brown and the shallots were soft, we tossed a knob of butter into the pan. When it melted, we added about three tablespoons of flour to make a roux. Into that went about a quarter cup (maybe a bit more–a small can would probably be perfect) of tomato paste, a cup of white wine, a cup of chicken broth, and some thyme. It all got stirred together until we had a skillet full of mushrooms in a slightly thickened broth, then we left it sit on low.
As soon as the pasta was cooked, we dished it into bowls and topped it with the sauce. We added a little parmesan, but it was, I think, unnecessary–the sauce was delicious on its own. The best part is that I only ate half of my bowl, so I’ve got leftovers for lunch on Friday!
So good, even the cat tried to eat it!
Good job on Maura helping. Is that Louise? She looks so little! I want! Or is it one of the hidey-cats of whom I’m only vaguely aware?
Eee! Best cat picture on the internet!
Also, I was wondering if you wanted to try for this job
Mmmmm bacon & mushrooms. I never thought of pasta sauce as a conveyance for vegetables, but I am amazed as an adult what is tasty that way. Even broccoli is good in pasta sauce. With bacon.
I make a bacon, mushroom and pea creamy pasta, but I think I will try this style next because the one I make is delicious but I don’t want to eat it too often because of all the eggs, cream (I use evap milk) and cheese that goes into it.
Mmmmm that looks just delicious! And Finn and I agree that that is a prettty kitty!