Homemade Pappardelle with Mushroom Sauce for Saturday Date Night

About a week ago Steve and I were home alone for the weekend because Alex was out of town for a jazz festival.  We both thought it would be fun to stay home Saturday night and make a nice dinner.  I thought the perfect meal would be this pappardelle with mushroom sauce.  None of our kids like mushrooms, so I rarely make recipes that feature mushrooms.  So….no kids means a perfect night for a recipe full of mushrooms!

This particular dish is one of my favorite pasta dishes.  The mushrooms have so much flavor and the truffle oil just puts it over the top!  I found the recipe in Cooking Light a couple of years ago and it was just featured again this month in their anniversary issue.  I made just a couple of changes to the recipe and I made homemade pasta.  If you don’t want to make your own pasta, you could use dried and it would still be a great dish.  But I recommend making your own because the homemade pasta makes this dish absolutely fabulous.

It does take a little bit of time to make the pasta, but it’s a really fun way to spend the evening with your sweetie!  You can both work on rolling out the pasta together while you’re chatting and sipping some wine.  Once the pasta is ready the recipe cooks up really fast.  Serve the pasta with a tossed salad and some crusty French bread and you have a fabulous meal for a lovely date night!

Homemade Pappardelle with Mushroom Sauce

• 1/2 cup dried wild mushrooms
• 2/3 cup boiling water
• 1/2 recipe pasta dough or 8 oz uncooked dried pappardelle
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 4 oz fresh shitake mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 4 oz fresh cremini mushrooms, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp dry sherry
• 2 oz grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• truffle oil

Rinse dried mushrooms thoroughly.  Combine with boiling water in a bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 30 minutes.  Drain mushrooms, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil.  If making homemade papparadelle, roll dough out into long sheets.  Cut the sheets in half crosswise and trim each end so that you have two rectangles.

With a knife, cut pasta lengthwise into about 1/2 inch strips.  Hang to dry until water boils.

Cook fresh pasta for about 3-4 minutes or dried pasta according to package directions.  Drain pasta, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add shallots, mushrooms and garlic.  Saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Stir in sherry and salt.  Cook for 1 minute or until liquid evaporates.

Reduce heat to medium.  Stir pasta, reserved cooking liquid, mushroom soaking liquid, 1/4 cup grated cheese, cream, chopped sage and pepper.

Toss well to combine.  Divide mixture between 4 bowls or plates.  Drizzle each serving with about 1 tsp truffle oil and sprinkle with extra parmesan.

ENJOY!

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