Prog Chefs Unite!!!

 

 

Tonight I cooked something uncharacteristic for me - in fact readers of my posts in this thread will find this as a surprise - I cooked pasta and loved it. And not a tomato in sight.

 

At the weekend we bought some mushrooms - an eclectic selection of oyster, boletus and chestnut. Normally we'd either have those fried with butter and garlic and eat them on toast, or cook them in wine and cream and served with rice to make a mushroom stroganoff but this evening I thought I'd try something different.

 

The 'shrooms were cleaned and sliced into fairly large chunks and fried off in a little oil and butter for a few minutes, then some roughly chopped garlic, a pinch of salt and a good grind of black pepper and a hand full of chopped thyme was added to the pan and fried for a few seconds before dousing it in a splash of white wine and left to simmer away as a pack of spinach and ricotta tortellini (shop-bought - I've not fallen that far) was thrown into another pan with some boiling water. While that was cooking I peeled and segmented a large lemon and searched through the store cupboard for a jar of caper berries. Once everything was cooked, the drained pasta was tossed into the pan of mushrooms with a handful of caper berries and the lemon segments and served in warmed bowls. I should have done some nice bread to go with it but as this was a spur-of-the-moment creation I'd not thought that far ahead.

 

I don't know whether this a unique creation, it's certainly not something I've seen on a menu, but it worked magnificently with the little salty hits of capers and sharp tang of the fresh lemon pieces complimented the pasta and mushrooms perfectly.

 

Not a total convert to pasta just yet, and nothing will convince me that paying for a pasta dish in a restaurant is a good idea when there is so much great Italian food out there that isn't pasta or pizza, but for a midweek meal thrown together off the cuff I was rather impressed (even though I say so myself).

 

 

Dean, there you are!  I bet you prefer Nigella Bites, all she does is lick her fingers and say huhmmmmmmm