I am a huge mushroom fan in all their shapes and sizes. I have found a way to cook them that I just love – I’ve had too many of those soggy watery mushrooms that I was determined to find a way to make them taste how I like them.
I cook them over a really high heat in a big knob of butter until they release all their juices. Then I continue to cook them until all the juices disappear, then they start to brown and caramelise a little around the edges. This is how I like my mushrooms. Once their like this they are delicious and you can then do all kinds of things to them (aside from eating them just like this) to make different meals.
Getting a little bored of my usually fry-up egg brunch that I’ve been having for lunch these past months, I decided a quick bowl of pasta was in order. I’m currently trying to not eat too much wheat, and although I was convinced that anything other than ‘normal’ pasta tasted minging, I’ve actually discovered I really like the corn pasta – plus it’s a gorgeous golden colour.
With the pasta cooking, I set about to my mushrooms, cooking them just as I mentioned above. Once the pasta was done and drained (I always reserve myself a mug of salty pasta water to add to my sauces), I stirred in some cream cheese to my mushrooms. I have discovered a French cream cheese in Waitrose (yes I costs quite a bit more than your standard cream cheese but it’s worth it for the taste) that is utterly heavenly, so until I make some attempts at making my own this will do fine.
To make the mushrooms and cream cheese more ‘saucey’ I added some of that reserved pasta water just to loosen it up to the consistency I wanted. We quite heavily salt our pasta water, so I am always cautious around seasoning my pasta sauces until I’ve added the cooking water.
Next I mixed the pasta and sauce together, adding more pasta cooking water to get a nice glossy sauce. Finally I tasted the seasoning, added lots of black pepper (I love the stuff!) and topped it off with grated cheese and cress for a bit of green.
Not bad for a weekday working lunch.
Eat the Earth 
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