Forest Mushroom Pasta

Foraging for mushroom is a wonderful adventure and here in Southern Norway there are plenty of places to find an abundance of wild treats. 

Obviously mushrooms can be poisonous and is some cases, deadly.  Please ensure you forage responsibly and can identify safe mushrooms correctly before you pick them.  If you are unsure don't touch!

The safest types to identify are probably chanterelles (kantareller), porcinis (steinsopp or Penny Bun) and hedghog (piggsopp) mushrooms. 

Here is our recipe for the amazingly simple, yet incredibly delicious, Forest Mushroom Pasta.  

Ingredients 

• A generous handful (or two) of freshly foraged wild mushrooms per person (we used funnel chanterelles/traktkantareller and piggsopp)
• Fresh handmade pasta (see separate recipe for this) 
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Finely chopped shallots 
• Crushed garlic (we love garlic so used 4 cloves for 4 portions)
• Finely diced carrot
• Chopped fresh parsley 
• A few fresh thyme springs
• A generous splash of white wine
• A similar amount of cream 
• A tablespoon of good quality salted butter 
• Truffle oil (optional) 

Directions

Take your mushrooms and carefully brush all the dirt off them and ensure they free from mould and parasites.  They should smell fresh and be firm to the touch.  Chop them finely. 

In a frying pan melt the butter until hot and bubbling, add the chopped mushrooms to the butter in handful sized batches.  Whilst cooking they will release a fair amount of moisture; this is good and will form a lovely stock you can add back to the dish later. 

Add freshly ground black pepper to the mushrooms whilst they cook down initially, this will enhance their natural flavours.  One the mushrooms begin to release moisture, drain the stock away, put the cooked mushrooms to one side and add the rest of the mushrooms to the pan to cook.  Continue the batches depending on how many people you are cooking for. 

Return the cooked mushrooms to the pan, add a little bit more butter if required and add the garlic, shallots and carrot.  Continue to cook on a medium/high heat until the shallots and carrot are softened.  Add more black pepper to taste and the thyme sprigs. 

In a separate pan, put your pasta water on and bring to the boil.  

Once the pasta water is ready you can begin to cook this and at the same time add the white wine and some of the saved butter/stock to the mushrooms.  Bring the mushrooms to the boil and then simmer, along with the pasta, for around 3 - 4 minutes (homemade pasta is quicker cooking than shop brought, adjust the timings as required).  The aim is to have both ready simultaneously. 

Just before serving the mushrooms, add the cream and parsley. 

Serve immediately by placing the mushroom sauce on top of the cooked pasta.  Add more black pepper and parsley too taste. 

For a more luxurious dish add a few drops of truffle oil to the fished dish.