Mmmmmmmmmmmushrooms

I love mushrooms. I mean, seriously LOVE mushrooms.  You can make all the jokes you want about fungus, toadstools, growing them in the dark and feeding them, welll, whatever:  I don’t care. I’ll keep eating them.

So I am always excited when I see my friends from Kitchen Pride at our local farmers’ markets. (Barton Creek Farmers’ Market is a pretty good bet.)  I love to see the portabellas, crimini, buttons. My juices start flowing and I know that my week will be filled with earthy goodness.

One of my favorite ways to combine pasta and mushrooms is this super-simple concoction borne of my fondness for each of the ingredients.

Saucy MMMMmmmmushrooms and Artichokes

2 shallots, minced

1 lb sliced Kitchen Pride Mushrooms

1 can artichoke hearts or bottoms, rinsed well and cut into chunks

Butter

Olive oil

Half and Half or heavy cream

Salt to taste

1 package Gourmet Texas Pasta (Wild Mushroom or Artichoke Heart)

Saute’ the shallots in butter and oil until softened using a large skillet over medium heat. Turn up the heat and add mushrooms to the hot skillet. Make sure not to crowd the skillet and don’t turn the mushrooms til they start to get golden edges. Turn them once so both sides get beautiful.  Then stir in the artichokes.  Reduce the heat.

While the mushrooms are cooking, get your salted water boiling so you can prepare your pasta as directed. (6minutes in boiling salted water).

When I drop the pasta in the water, I pour about ¾-1 cup of half & half or cream into the skillet (remember that heat is low-medium now) and stir it and reduce it while the pasta cooks.

When the pasta is done, the sauce should be thickened slightly. I drain the pasta and drop it right into the skillets with the creamy mushroom mix. Toss.

The first time I made this, I started tasting it to make sure it was “just right” and totally forgot Sean was outside grilling steaks. Ooops. Nowadays, it’s a full meal for me more often than it’s a side dish.

Look for these fabulous mushrooms at local markets. The website for Kitchen Pride is http://www.kitchenpride.com/

Peace, love and pasta,
Kim
aka the Pasta Pixie