Tagliatelle Pasta with garlic and mushrooms is my idea of comfort food. I had loads of fresh tomatoes on hand and needed to use them. Mushrooms, always a favorite, provided an earthy flavor and some meaty texture. Lots of garlic added to the potent mix. Cream made it all dreamy.
Although I generally associate tagliatelle pasta with eggs, I came upon an eggless version by Del Monte. The Del Monte brand pasta is readily available in Pune in most grocery stores and even kirana shops. While Barilla remains my pasta of choice, the Del Monte is a close second.
I am using a large amount of garlic here, almost 1/3 cup of garlic cloves or 10-12 American sized cloves. That’s like maybe 30-35 cloves of the small garlic cloves we get here locally. Use any tomato you like – plum or vine ripe tomatoes will be great here. If you don’t have the patience to cut and cook out the tomatoes, take the semi homemade route and go for organic stewed tomatoes, Italian San Marzano style tomatoes or passata. You can use half and half instead of the cream, or use a lesser quantity of double cream.
This recipe for pasta with garlic and mushrooms is very adaptable. You can make it with any kind of pasta, really, short cut penne or fusili or noodle like linguini or even bucatini. Add as many vegetables as you like and load it with veggies like spinach and broccoli.
I am using some toasted watermelon seeds for garnish. You can use other nuts too like pine nuts or slivered almonds or chopped walnuts.
Always remember, the simpler the recipe, the better your ingredients need to be. So always use only good quality extra virgin olive oil. I am so excited talking about this, I want to eat it all over again!
Recipe for Tagliatelle Pasta with Garlic and Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 lb pasta
- 12 plum tomatoes
- 3-4 Tbsp chopped garlic
- 200g mushrooms
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 200 ml cream
- 2 Tbsp watermelon seeds (optional)
- salt to taste
Method
- Heat olive oil and butter in a thick bottomed sauce pan or saute pan.
- Add all the chopped garlic (fresh only) to the oil and butter as it heats up. Keep the flame low.
- Let the garlic fry in the oil at a very low heat until it becomes slightly pink. Take care not to burn the garlic.
- Chop mushrooms finely. 10-12 medium sized mushrooms are needed at a minimum.
- Add mushrooms to the garlic in the pan and stir them.
- Continue stirring until mushrooms release water and reduce in size to at least half.
- Season slightly with red pepper and black pepper and herbs.
- Add chopped tomatoes or puree to the pan.
- Cook on slow heat until sauce reduces and coats the back of the spatula. This will take 15-20 minutes.
- Heat water in a pasta pot and add salt once it starts boiling.
- Add dry pasta and cook according to package directions.
- Once the sauce is thickened, check seasonings and add the cream. Switch off heat.
- When pasta is al dente, drain and add to the sauce.
- Cover and heat on a very low flame for only two minutes.
- Serve hot with olive oil and toasted watermelon seeds as garnish.
- *Mix pasta and sauce only when you are ready to eat, or the pasta will absorb all the sauce and become dry.
Serve it up hot. This makes 6-8 super large ‘hungry man’ servings. Enjoy!
