Mushroom Rigatoni

A bowl of delicious pasta, flavoured with cheese, fresh herbs and mushrooms, the heroes of this dish.

The Mushrooms

It's the mushrooms that make this dish what it is, their varied flavours, textures, mouthfeel and pseudo-meatiness bringing out the subtle carrier of taste; pasta to the next level. I've used 5 types of them: the humble button mushroom, the vibrant-textured enoki, the bold portabella, the bitter morels and the intense shiitake. Each type needs its own cooking time, it's own flavour boosters and it's own space to shine through.

THE RECIPE:

ingredients

1 cup rigatoni pasta

1/2 cup each of button, shiitake and enoki mushrooms

3/4 cup of portabella mushrooms

2 tbsp of finely chopped morels

1/2 cup chopped spinach

1 tbsp mascarpone

2 tbsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp each chopped rosemary, thyme and oregano

1 lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan for sprinkling

METHOD

In a large pot, bring salted water to a rolling boil and add in the pasta. In a separate pan, add in the finely chopped herbs, garlic, olive oil and 1 tbsp of salt. The salt draws the moisture out from the garlic. Sweat the garlic till it loses it's opacity. Then add in the button, shiitake and portabella mushrooms.

Try to chop the mushrooms into a variety of sizes and shapes; quarters, halves, julienne etc. This gives them a dynamism which excites one's palate. Increase the heat to get some browning on the mushrooms. Then add in the spinach and cook with a splash of water till spinach wilts down. Add in the morels and enoki.

To finish the dish off, grate the zest of a lemon into the mushrooms and add in the juice as well. Add in the cooked drained pasta along with a grating of parmesan and mascarpone. Toss the pan a couple of times and serve with another grating of Parmesan over the top.