Midweek marvels: A magnificently easy, mushroomy midweek pasta recipe to save your week
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Hello my lovelies. I hope you all had a really good long weekend, if you had one, and that Easter or Passover were kind to you. We had a lovely time: there were bubbles on the beach, an Easter egg hunt in the garden for our friends’ kids (and our 14-month-old, who sort of understood but really just loved romping in the wet grass), we ate slow braised hogget on Easter Monday with the very first Jersey royal potatoes around my mum’s kitchen table, and it was TASTY. But so far this week, I’ve been chasing my tail. Here in the UK it’s the school holidays, and in my house we’re all a bit dazed coming out of the bank of a bank holiday weekend, there’s a lot going on, including recovering from Monday’s episode of Succession, which I’m very much still processing - so I thought I’d get straight to it and share this delicious and seriously simple pasta dish that I rustled up last night for us in a matter of minutes.
I’ve done something terrible to my rib (fell over IN the car, hilarious but true), so I’m not operating at full pelt this week, and last night, after a Substack readathon soak session in the bath, I realised it was 8.30pm and I still hadn’t even thought about what to make for dinner (thankfully babe was nicely tucked up in bed after her Easter leftovers of braised lamb). I had a quick squizz in my newly-spruced fridge - more coming on that for paid subs soon - and saw a punnet of good looking shrooms, some dairy that needed using and my salad spinner of wild garlic (thanks to those paid subs keeping the wild garlic love alive on my voice memo, this is for you!).
A word on adaptability
This recipe, like so many of my midweek wonders, is designed with adaptability in mind. It’ about getting something speedy and delicious onto your plate, and using up what you have in the fridge to do so. While mushrooms are pretty crucial here, dried, rehydrated mushrooms could work (with a slosh of their flavour bomb stock for good umami measure), and of course, if you don’t have any wild garlic, normal garlic does just fine, and could also use some spring onion greens. You could sub onions for leeks, add in frozen peas, as I fully intended, but then swiftly forgot to do. If you’re veggie, it’s got to be veggie parm, and vegans can use vegan cream instead of double. A diced carrot or stick of celery sweated with the onion wouldn’t go amiss either, but this was my fridge-blitz, super-speedy supper and it really saved us, so I thought I’d share in case you’re looking for something similar to get you through the week.
I rustled this up in about 15/20 mins - if you’re using De Cecco penne rigate, as I did, you can make the sauce while the pasta cooks, as it takes 10-12 mins.
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Mushroom, wild garlic and crispy onion penne
Serves 4
400g penne rigate pasta or other short tubular pasta shape
3 tbsps olive oil
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp crushed or freshly milled black pepper
a pinch of chilli flakes
1 small onion, finely sliced
250-300g mushrooms, sliced
Half a small courgette, halved and sliced (optional)
a few leaves of tarragon, finely chopped (or a big pinch of dried tarragon)
8 leaves or wild garlic (or two cloves, finely chopped)
150g spinach leaves
4 tbsp double cream
30g parmesan, grated, plus more for grating
a handful of flat leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
a squeeze of lemon
2-4 tbsps crispy onions (I use organic shop bought by Yakso Organic world), or crispy breadcrumbs if you prefer
Bring a large pan of well salted water to the boil and slide in the pasta. Cook, according to packet instructions, until al dente - it’ll probably take around 10 minutes, depending on that pasta you’re using, so while that’s happening, you can make your decidedly delicious creamy mushroom sauce. Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet or non-stick frying pan over a medium high heat, and toss in the bay leaf, swirling it in the oil to infuse. Now add in the onion, season with salt, the crushed pepper, and the chilli flakes, and cook for a few minutes, turning the heat down slightly if it’s starting to frazzle, until softened, aromatic and just starting to colour.
Slide in your mushrooms and tarragon, and fry, stirring, until reduced, crusted and caramelised, a good 5-6 mins, then add in the chopped wild garlic or chopped garlic, and stir that in for a few moments, until wilted. Now in with the spinach, followed by a splash of the starchy pasta water, to help it wilt down and to keep the pan from getting too dry. Now would be a good time to add a couple of handfuls of frozen peas, if you fancy it, too. Turn the heat down slightly, and keep the pan ticking over gently while you drain your pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water (aka liquid gold).
Now transfer the penne into the mushroom pan, and coat in all the gubbins, adding in the cream, parmesan, chopped parsley, and a little more of the pasta water, if needed, allowing it all to bubble and reduce for a few minutes, stirring or agitating the pan until you have a glossy, creamy sauce that’s clinging tox the pasta. Season with lemon juice to pique, and more salt, if needed, and then spoon into warm bowls and top with handfuls of crispy onions or breadcrumbs, and more parmesan. Devour.
This was such a satisfying dinner and felt good to use up some unloved veg in the fridge. I’d never have thought to use my crispy onions on top of pasta. So clever, thank you!
I purchased more mushrooms so I can make this tonight 😋