Miso mushroom pasta

  • 7 ounces dried spaghetti or other noodle pasta
  • 12-16 oz mushrooms
  • 1 leek or onion, thinly sliced
  • 1 teaspoon sherry vinegar, or white wine vinegar
  • 4 tsp miso paste
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup pasta cooking water
  1. Cook pasta 1 minute short of al dente and reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water while doing the rest:
  2. Whip miso and butter together in a small bowl until airy and combined
  3. Sauté leek/onion until lightly browned
  4. Add mushroom and sauté until browned, toss with vinegar when done
  5. Add some oil and sauté garlic, mix with mushrooms
  6. Add miso butter and heavy cream — make sure pasta is ready before you do this
  7. When combined, add pasta and stir over low heat for 2-4 more minutes. Add some pasta water if needed to combine
  8. Serve with furikake

Skillet pasta

5 cups liquid :: 2.5 cups pasta

Liquid can be mix of wine, broth, cream.

Simmer over high for 10-12 mins.

Bolognese

  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 small onion, minced
  • 2 carrots, minced
  • 2 celery stalks, minced
  • 2 garlic gloves, minced
  • 1 1/4 pound mixed ground meat (80% lean beef, pork, veal, sausage)
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 Tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cup sweet white wine (or dry red wine)
  • (28 ounce) can tomatoes, chopped fine (“crushed” texture), with juice strained and reserved
  • 1 porcini boullion cube

Makes 3 cups for 1lb pasta

Don’t drain the pasta of its cooking water too meticulously when using this sauce; a little water left clinging to the noodles will help distribute the very thick sauce evenly into the noodles, as will adding an extra 2 tablespoons of butter along with the sauce. Top each serving with a little grated Parmesan and pass extra grated cheese at the table. If doubling this recipe, increase the simmering times for the milk and the wine to 30 minutes each, and the simmering time once the tomatoes are added to 4 hours.

  1. Add wine to non-reactive saucepan and simmer over low until reduced to 1/4 cup for sweet white wine or 1/2 cup for red wine.
  2. Use food processor to pulse vegetables into 1/8 inch pieces.
  3. Pulse strained tomatoes until chopped fine.
  4. Heat butter in large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium high heat; add onion, carrot, and celery and sautè until softened but not browned, about 6 minutes. Sautè garlic and sugar until fragrant.
  5. Add ground meats, breaking meat into 1-inch pieces with wooden spoon, about 1 minute.
  6. Add milk and stir to break meat into 1/2-inch bits; bring to simmer, reduce heat to medium, and continue to simmer, stirring to break up meat into small pieces, until most liquid has evaporated and meat begins to sizzle, 18 to 20 minutes.
  7. Stir in tomato paste and cook until combined, about 1 minute.
  8. Add tomatoes, porcini cube, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper; bring to simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer until liquid is reduced and sauce is thickened but still moist, 12 to 15 minutes.
  9. Stir in reduced wine and simmer to blend flavors, about 5 minutes.
  10. Adjust seasonings with extra salt to taste and serve. (Can be refrigerated in an airtight container for several days or frozen for several months. Warm over low heat before serving.)

Burst Tomato Pasta

  • 1/2 pound fusilli or curly pasta
  • 6 ounces bacon, preferably thick cut, diced
  • 6 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
  • Pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 1 quart cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 3 cups basil leaves, torn
  1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until 2 mins shy of al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking water.
  2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, add olive oil and heat. Add bacon and cook until it starts to render its fat, about 2 minutes. Add garlic, red pepper flakes and a large pinch of salt and pepper and cook until fragrant. Add tomatoes and cook until they burst, turn golden at the edges and shrivel up slightly, about 5 to 8 minutes.
  3. Add pasta to pan and toss with tomato-pancetta mixture; if the mixture looks dry add a little pasta cooking water a few tablespoons at a time. Cook over high heat until the pasta finishes cooking in the sauce. Add the butter and toss until it melts and coats everything. Add basil.