Pasta with Sauteed Mushrooms and Thyme

From America's Test Kitchen Season 4: Freedom from Red Sauce

Why this recipe works:

Pasta with mushrooms can be watery and tasteless. But when done right, this dish transforms an ordinary box of pasta and a package of mushrooms into something special. We wanted to combine the intense flavor of sautéed mushrooms with a light cream sauce to create a woodsy, full-flavored pasta dish.

For optimum flavor and texture, we used a combination of shiitake and cremini mushrooms; cremini mushrooms provided richness and meatiness, and the shiitakes contributed hearty flavor and a pleasant, chewy texture. Cooking the mushrooms in a skillet (not in the sauce) improved their flavor; adding salt to the pan helped the mushrooms release their juices and enhanced browning. We then added chicken broth and cream to the browned bits left in the skillet after the mushrooms were removed. Garlic, shallots, and thyme rounded out the flavors of our simple sauce, and lemon juice added brightness. We added the browned mushrooms back in for a chunky sauce that paired nicely with short pasta with lots of crevices—we liked either campanelle or farfalle.

4 as a main course, 6 to 8 as a side dish

So that the sauce and pasta finish cooking at the same time, drop the pasta into boiling water just after adding the cremini to the skillet. To make the dish vegetarian, substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth.

Ingredients

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