Cold weather makes you want to gorge yourself on heavy foods, don’t you think? We’re having a cooler-than-average summer here in San Francisco this year. The high temperature has been hovering around the high 50’s to low, mid 60’s for the entire month of July and now into August. Yikes! For those of you used to the Celsius scale, that’s between about 15 to 20. Chilly!
spaghetti with shitake and trumpet mushrooms in cream sauce
When I lived in London in the Nineties I ate this dish a lot during the cold winter months. It was a common thing there though not so much in Brazil at the time, so I found the dish especially exotic and satisfying.
Unlike the delightful organic rainbow Swiss chard recipe from yesterday, this is not healthy. Oh well, today’s another day and you can’t always be good, now can you?
spaghetti with shitake and trumpet mushrooms in cream sauce
1 lb spaghetti (or linguine) cooked per package instruction
1 cup half and half
1 tray shitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
1 tray trumpet mushrooms, cut into slivers
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
10 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in halves
3 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley
4 tbsp olive oil
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Fancy extra virgin olive oil for finishing
Place olive oil in hot skillet. Add garlic and shallot then sauté for a couple of minutes until shallot becomes translucent. Add mushrooms and sauté on high heat until cooked but still firm. Sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Transfer half of sautéed mushrooms to a warm plate. Pour half and half into skillet then add kalamata olives. Allow to warm through. Taste to adjust salt and pepper. Toss with cooked pasta, parsley and red chili flakes. Transfer to a serving bowl. Top with reserved mushrooms. Drizzle with a bit of fancy extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle a bit more freshly ground black pepper over everything. Bon appétit! Stay warm.
shitake and trumpet mushrooms home from the farmers market
spaghetti with shitake and trumpet mushrooms in cream sauce sure hits the spot after spending an afternnon in this kind of London weather