There’s more stuff going in here, it’s a lot. But I was shocked by how well the flavors came together considering it was something I cobbled together out of four different recipes on the internet. Also, I feel like the recipe is deceptively simple. You spend most of the time cooking the mushrooms down.

You might look at it and think “Holy shit, that’s a lot of mushrooms,” but you will be cooking them way down. I used two pounds and I thought it needed a lot more.

Also, I used cream, but I think you could probably sub in sour cream if you wanted a thicker sauce. I used pecans but walnuts would also work great.

Also I’m trying this new thing where I actually use some of the formatting that wordpress provides for you.

Ingredients

1 pound thick pasta, like tagliatelle, something like rotini would also probably work

3 pounds mushrooms, finely sliced or chopped, a mandolin would be ideal here

4 shallots or 1 medium onion, finely diced or sliced, also easy on a mandolin

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes (optional)

1 cup dry white wine

1 cup pasta cooking water

1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and chopped

1 bunch parsley, chopped, for garnish

Olive oil for sauteeing

Salt to taste (I used generous pinches of kosher salt each time I added stuff to the pan)

Directions

To toast the nuts, spread them out on a sheet pan and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, shaking the pan every 5 minutes. Once they’re done, let them cool, then break them up with your hands and put them aside.

Cook and drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water.

Start cooking the mushrooms. In a large skillet, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium heat and add about a third of your mushrooms. Let them cook until they release their moisture, and then keep cooking until it has all boiled off. Once cooked, remove from the pan, add some more oil, and do it with the next batch. Each batch probably took me around ten minutes.

Once all the mushrooms are done, add one more splash of oil to the pan, and add the garlic, shallots, and pepper flakes. Cook until the shallots are softened and turning translucent, probably no more than five minutes. Add the wine, scraping the bottom of the pan if you’ve got any brown bits, bring to a boil, and reduce at least by half. Once it’s at a hard boil it probably takes another five minutes. You can reduce it further if you want, you just don’t want it to completely dry out.

Add the pasta water, cream, nuts, mushrooms, rosemary, thyme, lemon zest and juice, and parmesan to the pan and bring everything up to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until it thickens. Add your cooked pasta and the parsley and toss to combine.

Serve with grated parmesan and more fresh parsley. And red pepper flakes if you want to kick the heat up.