I love the pairing of lemon and mushrooms. I love lemon, the tart sweetness to me is a perfect flavor. If I understood how to use it better I’m sure I would put lemon on everything. Like I do pepper. Mushrooms are a little more tenuous in my mind. I like them. But, not all are created equal. It took me a while to know I dislike oyster mushrooms. The texture is too firm and the flavor is not mushroom enough. But, I love the standard button mushroom, cooked, not raw, and portabellas are like little fungal angels to me. Although their meatiness roars against the delicate portrait to which I’ve just alluded. For me, portabellas hover just behind us, a little forgotten, but when we need them, remember them, or call upon them they always politely offer themselves. You see, angels.
But this is not about portabellas. Now, I wish it were. This is about lemon and (almost) any mushroom and ricotta and pasta. Last week I learned to make ricotta. And in that learning several things were revealed: 1- The store bought stuff tastes like bland plastic, 2- It’s really easy to make ricotta, and 3- It’s lemony! Homemade ricotta=heaven.
When I discovered that ricotta could be lemony and when shiitake mushrooms appeared at my doorstep thanks to Dominion Harvest, I put one and one and pasta together. And created a little 10 minute thrown together bowl of awesome. My only tweak will be to make this going forward with button or portabella mushrooms. Shiitake are OK, but who wants just OK when they could have angelic? Enjoy!
- 1 package papperadelle pasta
- 3 tbsp oilve oil
- 1 pint mushrooms, sliced (button, baby portabella, or shiitake)
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 1 cup ricotta, preferrably homemade
- zest and juice (3-4 tbsp.) from one lemon
- salt and pepper to taste
- Boil the pasta per package directions.
- While the water is boiling slice the shallot and mushrooms and place the olive oil in a pan over medium high heat.
- Saute the mushrooms and shallots while the pasta cooks (5-8 mins.).
- Stir half the lemon and zest into the ricotta in a large bowl. Stir the other half of the juice and zest with the mushrooms.
- When the pasta is finished, drain and toss with the lemon and ricotta mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
- Plate the pasta, top with mushrooms and season sprinkle with additional salt and pepper.
Note- This recipe makes 2 servings for a main meal and 4 servings if using as a side dish.
To make ricotta, follow these steps from Epicurious. Darling, do it!
Leave a Reply