Pasta Boscaiola Recipe 45

PASTA ALLA BOSCAIOLA

Steps:

• Place a large pot of water on to boil for pasta.
• Place dry mushrooms in stock in a saucepan and bring to low boil to reconstitute. Reduce stock by half, then set aside.
• Heat 1 tablespoon EVOO in a large pan over medium-high heat, add pancetta, guanciale or sausage and render. When pancetta starts to brown, add the fresh mushrooms.
• Strip and finely chop rosemary. Strip and stack sage leaves and very thinly slice. Add shallots, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs to fresh mushrooms, add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Add white wine and reduce by half. Add tomatoes and passata. Remove porcini mushrooms with slotted spoon from stock and add all but the last few tablespoons of stock (where grit may have settled) to the sauce. Reduce the heat under sauce to low simmer. Chop porcini mushrooms and add them to the sauce. Add heavy cream if using and stir.
• Add pasta and salt to boiling water and cook pasta 1 minute less than package direction. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water and drain pasta.
• Return pasta to hot pot, add some pasta water, the cheese, a little EVOO or butter and half of the sauce and toss vigorously 1 full minute to combine. Use more of the hot reserved water as necessary to loosen sauce if it becomes too thick. Serve family style or in shallow bowls topped with remaining sauce. Garnish with parsley.

PASTA BOSCAIOLA

Steps:

• In a medium saucepan, stir together the broth and dried porcini. Bring the stock to a simmer over high heat. Then reduce to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously-salted water to a boil for the pasta.
• Meanwhile, cook the pancetta in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 3-5 minutes or until the fat has rendered. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pancetta to a clean plate and set aside. Leave about 1.5 tablespoons of the pancetta grease in the pan and discard the rest. (Or if there's not enough grease, add a bit of olive oil at any point while sautéing the veggies.)
• Add the quartered baby bella mushrooms to the pan and sauté in the pancetta grease, stirring occasionally, until browned. Add the shallots, garlic, rosemary, thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, and a few twists of black pepper and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Gradually pour in the white wine and use a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, cooked pancetta and stir to combine.
• Meanwhile, transfer the cooked porcini mushrooms to a cutting board and roughly-chop them into bite-sized pieces. Transfer chopped mushrooms to the tomato sauce, along with 1 ½ cups of the porcini broth. (Be sure to filter the broth through a fine-mesh strainer to avoid any silt that may have gathered in the bottom of the pan.)
• Reduce heat to medium-low. Continue to simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes, or however long it takes the pasta to cook.
• Meanwhile, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until 1 minute shy of al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the starchy pasta water, then drain the pasta.
• Stir the cream into the tomato sauce. Then combine the tomato sauce and cooked pasta in the large stockpot and gently toss for 1-2 minutes until the pasta reaches al dente, adding in a few spoonfuls of the starchy pasta water at a time if needed to thin the sauce. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
• Serve. Serve immediately with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

PASTA BOSCAIOLA RECIPE - (4/5)

Steps:

• Place a large pot of cold water on the stove top and bring to a boil while you prepare your mise en place. Once the water is boiling, season with salt. Note: Season the water with approximately 1 tsp per litre/quart of water. To prepare your mise en place, first clean and slice the mushrooms. Emince the garlic. Remove the leaves from the thyme and roughly chop. Do the same for the parsley. Grate the parmesan cheese. Cut the prosciutto into bite-size pieces. Drain and squeeze the excess oil from the sun-dried tomatoes and measure 1/3 cup. Cut them into julienne strips, if needed. Measure out the white wine, cream and chili flakes and set everything aside. To start the dish: heat a large, stainless-steel fry pan over high heat. Once hot, add the grapeseed oil, immediately followed by the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Saute the mushrooms until they start to turn golden and then add 1 tablespoon of the butter. Pasta Note: For this recipe we used fresh, hand-cut pappardelle noodles. You may want to double the Basic Pasta Dough recipe to serve 4 people. If you are using fresh pasta, don't start cooking it until the sauce is almost done, as it will only need a few minutes to cook through (see note below). Dried pasta (rigatoni, penne, cavatelli, bow tie or fusilli) also works very well. If using dried pasta, add it to the boiling, salted water now and stir. Let cook while you finish the sauce. To continue with the sauce: Once the mushrooms are golden brown, reduce the heat to medium-high and add the prosciutto. Once the prosciutto is heated through, add the chili flakes and garlic. Let cook until the garlic is fragrant, about a minute or so. If the mixture looks a bit dry, add in the other tablespoon of butter. Next, add the sun-dried tomatoes and deglaze with the white wine. Stir, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Let the white wine reduce almost completely before adding the cream and thyme. Reduce the heat. Let the cream simmer and reduce slightly. Pasta Note: In the meantime, check the dried pasta for doneness (if using). If you are using fresh pasta, start cooking it at this point. It will only take a few minutes to cook through and become tender. Once the pasta is done, drain, reserving approximately 1 cup of the cooking water. Transfer the drained pasta to the sauce and toss gently to coat. Use some of the reserved pasta water to thin the sauce down, if necessary. The sauce should just coat the pasta. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese and chopped parsley over top and toss gently to combine. Taste for seasoning. Serve in warmed bowls. Top with additional parmesan cheese, chili flakes and a splash of extra-virgin olive oil, if desired.

LOW-FAT PASTA BOSCAIOLA

Steps:

• Cook pasta in a large saucepan as per packet directions until just tender.
• Blend cornflour and 1 tbl of evaporated milk until all lumps have dissolved. Add remaining milk, stock and season with salt & pepper.
• Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add bacon and onion and spray lightly with oil. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until golden.
• Add garlic to pan and cook another minute.
• Add mushrooms, cover, and cook for 4 minutes or until tender, stirring every minute.
• Drain pasta and set aside. Place milk mixture in saucepan used for pasta and place over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until sauce just comes to the boil.
• Reduce heat to low and add pasta, bacon mixture and parsley. Toss until heated through and serve with parmesan cheese.