Location: My tiny kitchen
Although sharing half of the name with the corkscrew shaped pasta, this pasta does not look anything like a fusilli at all. While I strolled down the pasta aisle at a local Italian grocery store, this unique shape of this pasta caught my eye. I usually use fettucine in this pasta recipe with portabella mushroom and tomato, but my newly discovered pasta tasted just as good.
This recipe makes two servings.
The first part of this recipe involves making a portabella mushroom ragout. You will need two large or 3 medium portabella mushrooms. Remove the stem from the mushrooms and slice them thinly.
Mince 6 cloves of garlic.
Mince 1 shallot.
In a skillet, put in 3 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of butter. Put the garlic and shallot into the pan when the butter has melted. Saute the garlic and shallot over high heat until they are soft. Put in the sliced mushrooms, 1 tsp of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook the mushrooms until all liquid has been reduced. Lower the heat if necessary. Cooking all the liquid out of the mushrooms is the secret to give the mushrooms an intense flavour.
Cook any pasta of your choice with an amount enough for two people. Follow the instructions on the package and cook the pasta until al dente. I find that the foolproof way to cook pasta is:
- Always use a lot of water
- Always put the pasta into boiling water
- After putting in the pasta, put in a few heaping tablespoons of salt
- Check if the pasta is cooked by eating one – this is the only accurate way for me
Once the pasta has been cooked, drain them and save one cup of pasta water for use later.
In the same skillet which the mushrooms were cooked, put in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Heat the pan and put in the pasta. Saute the pasta for 1/2 minute. Put in the mushroom ragout and half a can of diced tomato (about 3/4 of a cup). Put in 1 tbsp of oregano.
Continue to cook the pasta. If the pasta is starting to stick to the pan, add in 1/4 cup of pasta water. Try not to add too much pasta water because too much water will dilute the flavour in the pasta. However, you don’t want to end up with pasta that is too dry. When the pasta is done, there should be a small amount of sauce. Cook the pasta for a few minutes or until the mushrooms and tomato are mixed well into the pasta. Turn off the heat and mix in 3 tbsp of heavy cream.
Sprinkle with freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and parsley.
