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The Story
One day, when I’m living in a whimsically decrepit villa in southern Italy, backing on to woodlands and looking down towards the ocean, I’ll grab my whittled walking stick and amble out the backdoor to collect mushrooms. There are honestly fewer things that I want more in life. But right now I’m 16,000 kilometres away and have little idea how to pick mushrooms that won’t kill me. This is why we have goals.
The truth is, I actually spent most of my life claiming to hate the taste of mushrooms, until one day I cooked some up and loved them. That was a pretty recent thing, so I have some education to catch up on, and for now I do my foraging at the supermarket. Here’s what I can tell you of my new-found culinary respect for these guys though (recent eater, but long-time fan ecologically): each mushroom has a personality. You can smell it and taste it, and layer it together. You can add it to the base of a dish or make it the feature. And you can get a flavour out of a 5 minute sauté comparable to that of hours spent roasting or slow cooking other ingredients. Basically, if you aren’t at least thinking about mushrooms, you’re limiting yourself in your cooking.
Now if conversely there’s one ingredient that I’ve passionately supported for my whole life, it’s cheese. No one’s ever going to raise an eyebrow at that. Little Al’s already mad about the stuff. If you let cheese within his sight at dinner time, forget about it. That’s all he’s going to eat. It’s game over. You’ve spent 40 minutes making him an amazing 6 course degustation? He’ll have the cheese thanks. What better way to celebrate an ingredient as glorious as the mushroom than to pair it with a big old block of beloved cheese? So grab your mushrooming basket and a chunk of taleggio; it’s sauce time.
The Sauce
I like to make this sauce with at least 5 different types of mushrooms. It’s a special type of cooking. You start with the structure and then fill in the details to suit your mood. In this instance we’ve used rehydrated porcini and made up 400g of fresh mushrooms from flat, white cap, Swiss brown, and oyster. You can swap anything you like in or out here, and you’ll still have a delicious, deeply-flavoured dish.
So, should you wash mushrooms? Sort of. The general advice is that you should only ever dry-wash them, using a brush or paper towel to remove dirt. If you really need to use water, make it a speedy rinse or quick wipe with a damp cloth. They’re porous little fellows, so the theory is that once you get them wet they’ll be really hard to dry, and you’ll have trouble developing that beautiful golden colour on them in the pan. But then there are others who say that it makes no difference. My experience is simply that if they’re too wet they steam before frying, and by the time they do fry their structure has collapsed, leaving them a bit rubbery. All things considered, I would say if they’re dirty wash them; if they’re not, don’t.
Phew. Rehydrate your porcini by sitting them in a cup of hot water for 10-20 minutes, or just while you get everything else ready. Make sure that you retain that liquid, as it’s the perfect flavourful thing to maintain moisture levels as you later cook your sauce. And don’t forget to stick that head of garlic in the oven! A whole head? Yes.
Slice all of your mushrooms thinly (I prefer big slices to small chopped pieces), and get sautéing. You’ll only need about 5 minutes before they’re done. At this point, remove them from the pan. To not waste the great flavour that’s hanging around in there, use the same pan to gently melt the taleggio into the milk, stirring as it warms.
I try to maintain a fairly prosaic tone with this blog, but I have to say that this is one of those small tasks that brings me a strange mindful joy, standing there with my wooden spoon. It’s so beautifully simple: using milk, where the cheese began, to draw it back towards its beginning, but with all that’s it’s gained from the complexities of acidification, curdling, and maturation. If you take the time to really appreciate the ingredients that you cook with, and to be truly present as you prepare them, you’ll find new kinds of rewards in the food that you make and share.
Once you’re done pontificating, add the mushrooms back into the pan, and stir through the melted taleggio. Pour in some of the porcini water if it seems too dry, and squeeze those roasted garlic cloves in after it. Give it a stir and some seasoning, and your sauce is ready for pasta!
We put this recipe together specifically with our egg yolk pappardelle in mind, and I guarantee that it’s a winning combination.
Otherwise, cook, drain and add your pasta of choice directly into that cheesy, mushroomy pan. Remember that for sauces like this, it’s best to reserve some of the pasta water to mix through if it gets too dry. You might also have some of that porcini water left. It often dries out more than you’d expect as you plate it up, so it can’t hurt to go a little wetter! You can always mound some grated cheese on top to soak up any excess…
Cook with care and love, and enjoy yourself! Buon appetito.
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Frypan
Ingredients
- 10 g dried porcini, rehydrated in hot water
- 400 g mixed fresh mushrooms
- 1 head of garlic
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 tbsp milk
- 75 g taleggio
- grated parmesan to serve
- pepper to serve
Instructions
- Roast the head of garlic whole in the oven, at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. It should brown slightly on the outside. Allow to cool.
- Thinly slice the mushrooms and then sauté in the olive oil, on low-medium heat for about 5 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, gently melt the taleggio into the milk on low heat. Once it has completely melted, add a few tablespoons of porcini water to taste.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic out of the cloves; apply pressure towards the bottom end of the cloves and it will come out of the top like a paste. Add this to the milk and taleggio, with the sautéed mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper.
- Remove from the heat, and toss freshly cooked pasta into it. Be sure to retain some water from cooking the pasta; add it now if the sauce seems too dry. Even a little will prevent it drying out as it cools after plating. Looking for the perfect pasta to pair it with? Try our egg yolk pappardelle!
At what stage do you add the hydrated porcini its not mentiined in your recipe
Love this recipe! Introduced me to taleggio cheese pasta and roasted garlic in a pasta sauce. These components are such a game changer, and so much more flavourful than a simple cream sauce. Made it for friends a few times and everyone loved it! I use a dash of white wine to deglaze the pan after pan frying the garlic. Simply delicious.