This is a bit of an indulgent pasta that sees marsala-soaked porcini mushrooms tossed with a rich mascarpone and parmigiano sauce. Enough said right? Yumm. It’s woodsy, flavourful, creamy and mega satisfying.
Apart from the taste, this dish reminds me of my mum, Stella. Not that she ever made it, it would never have been on her radar, but because she had a heavy hand when it came to Marsala in cooking. Sloshing in this Italian fortified wine was her way of adding exoticness to a dish (and probably disguising a lot of things too). Stella was never really into cooking, but that she prepared meals for decades for 5 kids, hubby and 2 aging parents on a petite budget – I take my hat off to her. Full credit to ya mum!
So, growing up, it was marsala for fanciness. For desserts, that green, alcoholic bevvie creme di menthe frequently (too frequently) played the same role … don’t ask, it was the 1970s.
Back to the pasta, this one is simple and good. Choose a dry Marsala, or if you can’t get your hands on it, another fortified wine such as sherry or port. Fettucce (the slightly chunkier cousin of fettucine) is my preferred pasta – but any of the long, strandy ones would be good too.
Fettucce with Porcini, Marsala and Mascarpone ~ Fettucce ai Funghi Porcini, Marsala e Mascarpone
- 30g dried porcini
- ½ cup (125 ml) Marsala
- ½ cup (125ml) water
- 250g mascarpone
- pinch nutmeg
- pepper
- handful of fresh parsley, and/or thyme, leaves picked and roughly chopped
- 500g fettucce, fettuccine or other pasta
- 30ml olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves
- 50g parmigiano (35g + 15g)
Place the dried porcini in a small saucepan and cover with the marsala and water. Place on a low-medium flame, and heat until it just reaches boiling point. Remove from the heat and let stand for at least 10minutes. Drain reserving the soaking liquid and chop the softened porcini. Add the chopped parsley to the porcini and set aside.
Put the water on for the pasta.
In a medium sized bowl mix the mascarpone with a pinch of nutmeg, salt and pepper together with the reserved liquid from the porcini and stir with a fork or whisk (lumps are fine, they will soften later).
Salt the now boiling water and add the pasta.
In a large frypan warm the oil, add the garlic, and cook for 30seconds. Add the porcini and herb mixture and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the mascarpone mixture stirring gently for a minute or 2 until it comes to a gentle bubble. Turn off the heat.
Set aside some of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta into a colander. Add the pasta to the frying pan and toss gently coating it with the porcini- mascarpone sauce. Add a little of the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce to the point where the strands of pasta are slippery (but not flooded). Add the bulk of the parmigiano and toss again. Serve hot, each plate sprinkled with a little extra of the remaining parmigiano, and herbs.
