You know when you were a kid and tried to mix together every food you loved, thinking the combination would be the best thing every? Disgusting, right? Well I decided to experiment along those lines, albeit with a bit more restraint (based on years of recipe reading) than I had as an eight-year-old! The result was a sublime plate of Orecchiette and Mushrooms in Parmesan Cream Sauce. I suppose you could use any short, scoopy noodle – I just have a thing for orecchiette https://abt.cm/1vzh8eC! There are also numerous recipes for parmesan cream sauce – some with cream cheese, others based on a roux and still others that let the cheese flavour infuse from the parmesan rinds before being strained. Me? Melt a little butter and olive oil in a pan, add a punnet of sliced fresh button mushrooms and sauté until golden. Toss in a clove of grated garlic, and let cook for a minute. (If you want the sauce to remain pristine white, cook it separately – I just don’t have the patience!) Next, pour in fresh cream and heat until simmering, then stir in a big handful of freshly grated parmesan and finely chopped fresh parsley or other soft herb, season to taste and mix in the orecchiette – so morish! The orecchiette-mushroom combo also works with green or red pesto, with onions and thinly sliced peppers added – heck, even with a jar of ready-made tomato pasta sauce when you’re famished and in a hurry!
