The Perpetual Feast

My darling daughter gave me a basket of organic gourmet mushrooms for Mothers’ Day.  What a great gift!  Much better than flowers or chocolate.  There are two pounds of exotic  mushrooms.  The first thing I did was pull off a handful of them and put them under a chicken breast I was baking for dinner.  Then I started to research recipes.

But first, meet the mushrooms.  They aren’t exactly your store bought button mushrooms:

The mushrooms on the left are Brown Clamshell. Those are the mushrooms I put under the chicken breast.  Directly to their right are Velvet Pioppini, which has an intense forest flavor. Above them are Forest Namekos, which are really odd. They have a naturally shiny glaze and are gold colored.  The big mushrooms are Trumpet Royales, and above them are Alba Clamshells.  Except for the Royales, they all come in clumps.  You eat the stems as well as the caps on these mushrooms.

I used the Brown Clamshells, a few of the Pioppini, and a couple of Royales in this recipe.  If you don’t  happen to have a basket of gourmet mushrooms, you can buy exotic mushroom blends at some groceries, or try a mix of shitake mushroom caps and cremini mushrooms.  The original recipe, from Cooking Light, called for using whipping cream instead of the fat free half and half.  This would make a richer recipe, at 11.5 grams of fat/serving.  I wanted something lower in fat so that I could take leftovers for lunch. I found this preparation to still be very rich and flavorful – I think the whipping cream would make it overwhelming.

Farfalle with Creamy Wild Mushroom Sauce

½ pound uncooked farfalle (bow tie pasta)
½ Tablespoon butter
6 ounces exotic mushroom blend, sliced
¼ cup chopped onion
¼  cup finely chopped shallots
½ Tablespoon minced garlic
¾  teaspoon  salt, divided (I used sea salt)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup fat free half and half
¼ cup  (2 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain and set aside.

Melt the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, onion, shallots, garlic, ½ teaspoon salt, and pepper; cook 12 minutes or until liquid evaporates and mushrooms are tender, stirring occasionally. Add wine; cook 2 minutes or until liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add the cooked pasta, fat free half and half, cheese, and parsley, tossing gently to coat. Stir in remaining ¼ teaspoon salt.. Serve immediately.  Makes 4 servings at about 5.3 grams of fat/serving.