Pasta Portabella

With a busy schedule that has me out of town one or more days for each the next five weeks I don’t want to spend any more time than needed in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong. I still love to come home from a trip and cook, but it has to be quick and healthy like this Portabella Pasta dish. When I’m on the road I get to eat at some great restaurants. Take for instance the Wicked Spoon in Las Vegas at the Cosmopolitan Casino last week. The food was amazing and they have a bottomless glass of wine special too. When you order a glass of wine the waiter will ask, “Would you like our bottomless glass of wine for just $4 more?” to which I said, “Hell yeah!”. The catch is you have to get your wine drinking done within two hours. That is not a problem for most of us, certainly not me. After three tasty glasses of Prosecco I had enough food and wine for the day and was off to enjoy the sunshine.

Once I get home I  look forward to cooking in my own kitchen again. I might have even picked up some ideas from dinning out on the road. This week I went up to Phillip’s Mushrooms in Kennett Square and picked up a load of portabellas, shitake and maitake mushrooms to use in my test kitchen. I had some ports leftover and decided to share this recipe that I wrote two years ago but had lingered on the back burner awaiting a final test. I learned this type of cooking while visiting Ostuni, Italy. That region of Italy is known for simple dishes made with just a few ingredients. Their thumbprint pasta called “ orecchiette” is found often and usually served with some sort of tomato product, and maybe some fresh herbs. We loved every dish we tasted with orecchiette in it and I have used it occasionally since that visit.

In your kitchen you can substitute orecchiette with bow tie pasta or a gluten-free pasta and I suspect it will still turn out quite well. Use the best canned or fresh tomatoes you can get your hands on for best taste. If you want to make it a meaty entree just add Italian sausage in it or on the side and you will have the full meal deal. Pair it with a nice Chianti or Cabernet Sauvignon for dinner Italian style. It beats Spaghetti O’s any day! Please leave your comments so the world knows I have a gazillion readers/followers. Until next time, eat well and drink well my friends.

Pasta Portabella

2 cup orecchiette pasta, or bow tie pasta

1 16 oz can diced tomatoes

3/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

5-6 teaspoons garlic infused olive oil

1 portabella mushroom sliced in 3/8 inch slices

2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped,optional

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

saute time

Heat to boiling 8-10 cups of water with 1 tablespoon of salt.

While water is heating sauté portabella slices in a sauté pan on medium heat until lightly browned. It may take two rounds as the portabella slices  should not be touching. After browning set aside in a warm oven.

Cook pasta when water boils.

Use same sauté pan to heat tomatoes and herbs to a simmer.

When pasta is done cooking, drain and toss with tomatoes.

Add chopped parsley and arrange on individual plates.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Top with sautéed portabellas, and parmesan.

Serves 2 as an entree or four as a side dish, but easily doubles to serve more.

Let’s eat!