For a pasta dish that’s packed with earthy mushroom flavor, use a trio of mushrooms: white mushrooms, maitakes, and dried porcini. The process starts with a double-mushroom duxelles by grinding affordable white mushrooms and dried porcini in a food processor with aromatics and cooking it all together. A touch of cream finishes the dark, savory duxelles.
I often say “you eat with your eyes first,” and if you apply that adage when making the duxelles, you might want to abort the entire meal. The mushroom mix is less than appetizing, akin to, as The Hubs stated, the looks of dog food. But power through and complete the meal because it is super tasty, especially if you are a funghi fad, like us.
An unconventional method is used to cook the pasta: boil a full pound of campanelle in just 5 cups of water to create a superstarchy liquid. Don’t drain the pasta. Then stir in the creamy duxelles to build an ultrarich, creamy sauce that coats the frilly campanelle. Torn maitakes seared in extra-virgin olive oil creates a beautiful crisp, brown topping for the dish.
If you can’t find *maitake (hen-of-the-woods) mushrooms, substitute oyster or cremini mushrooms. Campanelle is preferred, but rigatoni or medium shells can be used; the pasta cooking time may differ. To achieve the proper consistency, boil the pasta after you’ve made the crispy mushrooms and duxelles.
Triple Mushroom and Campanelle
Ingredients
Crispy Mushrooms
- 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
- 8 oz. *maitake mushrooms, trimmed and torn into ½-inch pieces
Duxelles
- ¼ oz. dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed
- 1 shallot, peeled
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 lb. white mushrooms, quartered
- 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- ½ tsp. table salt
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ⅛ tsp. pepper
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Pasta
- 5 cups water
- 1 lb. campanelle
- 1 tsp. table salt
- 1 oz. Pecorino Romano cheese, grated (½ cup)
- 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
Directions
- FOR THE CRISPY MUSHROOMS: Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add maitakes and cook, without stirring, until mushrooms begin to wilt at edges, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Gently stir and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are well browned and crisp, 7 to 9 minutes longer. Remove from heat.
- Season mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste, transfer to bowl, and set aside until serving (do not wash skillet).
- FOR THE DUXELLES: Add porcini mushrooms, shallot, and garlic to food processor and process until finely chopped, 10 to 15 seconds, scraping down sides of bowl halfway through processing.
- Add white mushrooms and process until very finely chopped, 40 to 55 seconds, scraping down sides of bowl halfway through processing.
- Add butter to now-empty skillet and heat over medium heat until butter is foaming, 1 to 2 minutes. Add mushroom mixture and salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushroom liquid has evaporated and mushrooms have darkened in color, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Stir in heavy cream, pepper, and lemon juice. Set aside.
- FOR THE PASTA: Bring water to boil in large Dutch oven. Stir in pasta and salt. Adjust heat to medium so water is at gentle boil and cook partially covered, stirring occasionally, until pasta is just shy of al dente, 6 to 8 minutes (there will be about ½ inch cooking water in bottom of pot). Do not drain pasta.
- Remove pot from heat. Add duxelles and Pecorino and stir vigorously until pasta is coated in lightly thickened sauce, 1 to 2 minutes (sauce will thicken as it cools).
- Transfer pasta to serving bowl. Top with crispy mushrooms and parsley. Serve immediately.
Recipe from Cook’s illustrated
Accounting for Taste 