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One of my coworkers is an avid mushroom hunter. He gave me some dried maitake mushrooms a while back, and I've been wanting to use them in a recipe. So this afternoon, I decided to try to make a pasta sauce out of stuff that I had in the pantry and this is what I came up with. It tasted pretty darn good, and the flavor of those mushrooms is wonderful! I was a little shy with them because I didn't want to overdo it. I still have some more to use up - maybe in a stir-fry or something. This was my first time making pasta sauce from scratch without a recipe, so I was pretty proud of myself! If I had fresh parsley or basil it would have been even better!
Linguine with Tomato Sauce and Maitake Mushrooms
6 pieces dried maitake mushrooms, rehydrated and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ white onion, chopped
1 14.5 ounce can no salt added diced tomatoes
1 5.5 ounce can vegetable juice, (such as mini cans of V8)
½ pound linguine
extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon parsley
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 fresh bay leaf
part-skim ricotta cheese
Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add rest of ingredients and simmer until the mixture starts to thicken. Remove bay leaf and puree to your desired texture with an immersion blender. Serve on top of linguine and top with a dollop of ricotta.
MacGourmet Rating: 4 Stars
Elisabeth says
I am SO jealous that you have a source for wild mushrooms - this looks awesome!
Brandon W says
I've got a friend who is into hunting mushrooms. I can't wait for morel season to start up.
I find that when I make pasta sauce I like to add a little red wine vinegar to it, then if I add too much a little honey or sugar. That little bit of tang from the vinegar helps bring everything together. Well to me anyhow.
This winter I have been making beef stroganof with dried shitake and oyster mushrooms. Instead of beef broth I use the water that I rehydrated the mushrooms in as the stock.
Ashley says
elisabeth - Yeah, I'm excited because he offered to take me and Dino hunting in a few months during morel season. I'm very excited!
brandon - I'll have to try the red wine vinegar trick next time! And I love beef stroganoff, but it's hard since Dino is lactose intolerant. I had a killer recipe for making it in the crockpot but it didn't make his tummy feel too good...
Brandon W says
lactose intolerant? and you married him?
michelle @ TNS says
i'm also jealous of your wild mushroom hookup. i need one of those!
that pasta looks yummy, i love mixing ricotta in with simple pasta and red sauce.