Rachs Pasta Boscaiola Aka Woodsmans Pasta Is A Tuscan Specialty Recipes

RACH'S PASTA BOSCAIOLA-AKA WOODSMAN'S PASTA-IS A TUSCAN SPECIALTY

Steps:

• Place porcini in small pot and cover with stock, bring to low boil, reduce heat a bit and reduce liquid by half, 10 to 12 minutes
• Remove the mushrooms with slotted spoon, trying not to mix up the liquid too much (so any grit from the mushrooms stays at the bottom of the pot), and chop
• Reserve the mushroom stock
• Bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta
• Heat a large skillet with EVOO, 3 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat
• Add pancetta and render 2 minutes, add fresh mushrooms and brown with pancetta 5 to 6 minutes, add shallots, garlic and rosemary, and season with salt and red or black pepper
• Toss mushrooms 2 minutes more, then add about 1 cup of wine, let it absorb and reduce
• Add reserved stock and porcini, slowly pouring into the skillet leaving behind the last couple tablespoons to avoid adding the grit from the porcini mushrooms at the bottom of the pot, then add tomatoes and passata or puree, reduce heat to low to simmer
• Add cream
• Salt water and cook pasta 1 minute less than package directions to allow for carry over cooking
• Reserve ½ cup boiling pasta water and drain pasta
• Combine the pasta with about ⅔ of sauce, the cheese and use the pasta water as needed to keep moist, then add a little more EVOO to your taste
• Serve pasta topped with remaining sauce and pass extra cheese at table

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.

PENNE BOSCAIOLA (WOODSMAN-STYLE PASTA WITH MUSHROOMS AND BACON) RECIPE

Steps:

• Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven or large sauté pan, cook bacon over medium-high heat, stirring often, until browned, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate.
• Add fresh mushrooms and chopped porcini to pot with rendered bacon fat and return to medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, until mushrooms are browned, about 8 minutes. Add a splash of olive oil at any point if pot becomes too dry.
• Add onion, garlic, and thyme and cook, stirring, until onion and garlic are softened and lightly golden, about 6 minutes; again, add olive oil as needed if pot becomes too dry. Season with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until just shy of al dente. Drain pasta, reserving about 2 cups of pasta-cooking water.

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.