[VIDEO] Wild mushroom tripoline pasta

I should say straight off that no ladybirds were harmed in the filming of this video, contrary to whatever Archie may say…

I think I would struggle to find an easier dish than this, and yet the result is so very tasty. The stars of the show are the porcini mushrooms and they give this dish its deep woodiness. I also used fresh shittake mushrooms and fresh chestnut mushrooms. Of course, the chestnut mushrooms are not wild but I choose to use them to keep costs down. They contribute to the colour and texture of the dish, if not greatly to the flavour.

Wild mushrooms seem to be much more reasonable in supermarkets now than they used to be. I spent about £4 on the mushrooms in total and, although this is not a small amount, this dish does not work out more expensive than other pastas which use meat or fish.

Wild mushroom tripoline pasta

Preparation time 30 minutes, but that is simply to include the time needed to soak the dried porcini mushrooms. Cooking time 12 minutes.
This served three of us amply, with some more for seconds.

300g tripoline pasta (I found this at Tesco but of course you can use any pasta you want).
25g dried porcini mushrooms (soaked and then sliced into ribbons)
125 fresh shittake mushrooms, sliced into ribbons (you can used dried shittake if you cannot find fresh ones)
150 fresh chestnut mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley
The juice of half a lemon
Olive oil
Lots of parmesan to serve

1. You will need to soak the dried porcini for about 30 minutes before hand. When they are soft, take them out of the water but don’t throw the liquid away as it will be used later on.
2. Put the pasta on to boil as per the packet’s instructions.
3. With about 6 minutes left for the pasta to cook, pour an ample amount of olive oil into your frying pan (the oil serves both as cooking oil and “sauce” with this pasta).
4. Fry the mushrooms until they are golden and cooked, then add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
5. Pour in some of the reserved liquid from the mushrooms (not a huge amount, maybe 5-6 tbsp).
6. Add the parsley and lemon juice and mix well together.
7. Drain the pasta and pour it into the pan. Drizzle a little extra olive oil over the pasta and mix the pasta into the sauce.
8. Continue to mix for a good minute. I also like to leave this dish sit for a minute as this gives the sauce a little extra time to be absorbed.
9. Serve with lots of good quality parmesan (and, ahem, a glass of cold white wine!).