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Porcini pasta sprinkled with shredded parmesan in a white bowl on a terra cotta colored tile counter.
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Porcini Pasta

Delightfully woodsy and indulgent, porcini pasta is an especially soothing dish when you're in the market for comfort food. Using readily available dried porcini mushrooms and just a few other simple ingredients, it is also incredibly simple to cook. Creamy, rich, and intensely earthy, this deceivingly plain looking dish just might make you swoon. 
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword comfort food, easy, indulgent
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Equipment

  • medium strainer
  • large coffee filter
  • heavy stainless steel skillet (large enough to accommodate a pound of pasta and a generous amount of sauce)

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 cup finely chopped shallot (usually 1 to 3 shallots, depending on their size)
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
  • 3 cups chicken stock
  • 1½ cups heavy whipping cream
  • 1 pound dried linguine (or other pasta of your choice)
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • Parmigiano-Reggiano (or your favorite Parmesan) freshly shredded or grated

Instructions

Rehydrate the Dried Porcini Mushrooms

  • Place the dried porcini in a heat safe measuring cup with a capacity of at least 2 cups. Pour enough hot water over the porcini to cover and reach somewhere between the 1½ to 2 cup mark. Let sit for 30 minutes or until the porcini have plumped up and become soft. (If using Better than Bouillon for the chicken stock, prepare your stock in the meantime.)
  • Set a coffee filter in a medium strainer over a bowl and slowly pour the porcini soaking liquid through the filter. Reserve the strained porcini soaking liquid.
  • Give the rehydrated porcini a quick swish and rinse in some cool water (to remove any remaining traces of sandiness) and then drain.
  • Roughly chop the porcini and set them aside.

Prepare the Porcini Sauce

  • Finely chop the shallot and mince the garlic.
  • Melt the butter in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped shallot and stir until beginning to brown, about 3 or 4 minutes. Then add the minced garlic and stir until fragrant, about another 30 seconds more.
  • Add the chopped porcini and stir to coat. Then pour in about 1 cup of the reserved porcini soaking liquid and bring to a simmer. Cook until the liquid has evaporated almost entirely, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the chicken stock and heavy whipping cream. Bring the sauce to a boil and then adjust the heat down to a lively simmer.
  • Simmer the sauce for about 30 to 40 minutes or until it has been reduced by about half and the consistency has become noticeably creamy and more thick. In the meantime, cook the pasta al dente, reserving about a cup of pasta cooking water (just in case you end up with leftover pasta).

Assemble and Serve

  • When the porcini sauce is done simmering, check it for seasoning. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir to coat. Allow the pasta to warm and soak up the sauce over low heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, before serving.
  • Serve the porcini pasta with a generous sprinkling of freshly shredded or grated Parmigiana-Reggiano.