Everybody loves a good pasta methinks......and this is just as good as any. I would like to say I made the pasta by hand but in this age of convenience, I used shop bought penne instead.
I took a slightly different approach to the sauce choosing instead to mince the mushroom with some black olives to enrich the flavour of the sauce. You can actually mince lots of the mushroom mix to freeze and use later on. I also used fresh frozen garden peas which cook much faster too.
Serves 4
300g penne
1 cup garden peas
1 punnet of button mushroom
1 punnet of cremini/ chesnut/ wild mushroom
100g pitted black olives
4 peeled cloves garlic
4 shallots, finely chopped
300ml cooking cream
1/2 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup water
Salt
Black pepper
Parmesan
The first thing to do is prepare the mushroom. Make sure your've cleaned your mushroom then put half into a blender with half the oil and half the water, half the pitted black olives and 2 cloves of garlic. (If you use wild mushrrom, please remember to thoroughly clean them and that they have been fully rehydrated before use. Here's a link on how to do it)
Remember we are looking for a coarse consistency, NOT a puree, so rather than blend, you'll need to pulse the mushroom until it forms small chunks. Repeat the process with the second batch of mushroom and set aside.
Then, cook your pasta as per packet instructions. Once cooked, set aside the pasta and about 1/2 cup of pasta water.
As the pasta cooks, we cook the sauce. Into a pan, add your chopped shallots and about 60ml of cooking oil. Cook the shallots on a low heat until they are translucent. Then, add all the mushroom mix into the pan and sautee on a medium heat for 10 minutes. Season with 1/2 tsp of salt and then add in your cream and garden peas. Let this simmer on a low heat and season with 1 tbs of freshly ground black pepper.
Last, add in your penne and mix in well. (If the sauce is too thick, you can thin it out to your liking with pasta water)
Plate and serve hot with lashings of parmesan