Recipe by Damon Lee Fowler, featuring
Salt Table Black Truffle Salt or Wild Porcini Mushroom Salt.
Cultivated mushrooms don’t have the intense flavor that they’re wild cousins like Italian porcini or truffles, but the latter aren’t readily available to most of us and can be very expensive when they can be had. Here, Salt Table’s Black Truffle Salt bumps up the flavor of cultivated brown mushrooms without putting a strain on your grocery budget. Another good seasoning for this is Salt Table’s Wild Porcini Mushroom Salt.
This is for a cozy dinner for two, but it doubles well; increase the olive oil to only 3 tablespoons.
Serves 2
Ingredients:
- 8 ounces brown (crimini or baby bella) mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 medium shallot, peeled and minced
- 3-4 small to medium fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
- Salt Table Black Truffle Salt or Wild Porchini Mushroom
- Whole black pepper in a mill
- Salt Table Sea Salt
- 6 ounces penne pasta
- 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus a little more for serving
- 8-12 very small sage leaves, for garnish, optional
How to make it:
- Wipe the mushrooms clean with a dry cloth or paper towel. Cut small ones into quarters, larger ones into chunks the same size as the quarters. Put at least 3 quarts of water on to boil over medium high heat.
- Put the oil and shallot in a 10-12-inch heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium heat. Sauté until the shallot is a pale gold, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and quickly toss to coat them with the oil. Sauté, tossing almost constantly, until mushrooms are beginning to color. Add the sage and season to taste with Salt Table Black Truffle salt or Wild Porchini Mushroom Salt and pepper. Turn off the heat.
- When the pot of water is boiling, stir in a small handful of sea salt and the pasta. Boil it, stirring occasionally, until it’s al dente (firm to the bite but not pasty at the center). When the pasta is almost done, gently reheat the mushrooms over medium low heat, and when the pasta is ready, quickly drain and put it in the pan with the mushrooms. Turn off the heat under the pan, toss well, add the cheese, and toss again. Garnish with whole small sage leaves, if using, and serve at once, passing more cheese separately.