This is such a good sauce and a perfect foil for so many pasta dishes. Not only that but it is very simple to make. We first came across it on a pasta making course led by Theo Randall. The course was organised by Banquest and was great fun and I would highly recommend it if you love pasta! We have now used this basic sauce in a number of ways. Cooked indoors on the hob and outside on the BGE. With the smallest amount of creme fraiche it makes a lovely mushroom sauce to go with chicken or pork. But it really comes into its own in its native form with pasta. More than anything else we have used it with filled pasta, particularly tortelli, tortellini or cappelletti.
The basic sauce is based on dried porcini mushrooms. We just love porcini! With the dried ones you just need to remember that 10g of dried porcini will transform into the equivalent of 100g of fresh porcini once rehydrated. 10g is fine for 2 people. Perhaps the hardest thing about making the sauce is remembering to rehydrate the dried porcini at least 2 hours before you need it. This is much longer than we ever used to leave them and it makes such a difference. Simply pour over enough boiled water to cover the porcini and leave well alone and get on with the rest of your day!
So after 2 hours or more, remove the porcini from the water and check for any woody or ‘muddy’ bits and remove them. Finely chop the mushrooms to the size you can see in the picture of them in the pan. If you want or you are a little short of porcini, you can add a few fresh mushrooms at this stage, shiitake or chestnut mushrooms work well with the porcini.
Add a little olive oil to the pan and then the chopped porcini mushrooms. Mince a clove of garlic with a pinch of salt to form a paste and add to the mushrooms. And gently sauté for a couple of minutes then carefully pour the porcini liquor that is left after rehydrating the mushrooms. Be careful to pour slowly so any grit can be left in the last few spoonfuls of the liquid which should be discarded. Add just a little more water, turn down the heat and cook for around 10 minutes.
When you are ready to use the sauce, add a large knob of butter and some chopped flat parsley and season with a little salt.
If you are using the sauce for pasta, add the pasta to some salted water on a rolling boil. We were using Tortelli in this example. Cook (in the case of fresh Tortelli around 3-4 mins) until the pasta is about three quarters cooked through.
Add the pasta to the porcini sauce and continue to cook the pasta in the sauce for 2-3 minutes. Keep agitating the pasta in the sauce so that the pasta gives off some starch which then thickens the sauce. Add a little more pasta water as you are doing this as the sauce thickens, and repeat to control the final viscosity of the sauce. Make sure the sauce clings to all the surfaces of the pasta during this final phase of the pasta cook……………. and serve!
For the Tortelli, we served with shards of parmesan and some black summer truffle…………………….. perfect!!
Footnote: if using this sauce without pasta say with pork or chicken a little cream or creme fraiche stirred in after the butter has been incorporated produces a lovely rich sauce. If doing that, perhaps consider adding a little less butter, or omit it all together.
Porcini mushroom sauce
Reconstituted dried porcini finely chopped with garlic salt and butter
Ingredients
- 10g of dried porcini
- Boiled water to rehydrate porcini
- 1Tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic
- Pinch of salt
- large knob of butter
- chopped flat parsley
Directions
- Step 1 To 10g dried porcini pour over enough boiled water to cover – leave for at least 2 hrs
- Step 2 Remove the porcini from the water and remove any woody or ‘muddy’ bits. Finely chop the mushrooms (If you want or you are a little short of porcini, you can add a few fresh mushrooms at this stage)
- Step 3 Heat olive oil in a pan and add the chopped porcini. Mince a clove of garlic with a pinch of salt to form a paste and add to the porcini. Gently sauté for a couple of minutes. Carefully pour the porcini liquor that is left after rehydrating the mushrooms into the pan. Be careful to pour slowly so any grit can be left in the last few spoonful of the liquid which should be discarded. Add a little more water, turn down the heat and cook for around 10 minutes.
- Step 4 When ready to use the sauce, add a large knob of butter and some chopped flat parsley and season with a little more salt if necessary
- Step 5 If you are using the sauce for pasta, we were using Tortelli in this example, add the pasta to some salted water on a rolling boil. Cook (in the case of fresh Tortelli around 3-4 mins) until the pasta is about three quarters cooked through. Add the pasta to the porcini sauce and continue to cook the pasta in the sauce for 2-3 minutes. Keep agitating the pasta in the sauce so that the pasta gives off some starch which then thickens the sauce. Add a little more pasta water as you are doing this as the sauce thickens, and repeat to control the final viscosity of the sauce.