Mushroom, lemon & tarragon tagliatelle

November 10, 2011

November's calendar recipe had a fairly wintry feel which was a bit out of place on a humid November evening. Still, it was simple to throw together (20 minutes from start to finish I reckon) and a fairly tasty kind of comfort food. It's heavy on the butter and cheese, giving the whole dish a nice creamy feel, offset by the chunky mushroom pieces throughout. The tarragon and wine gave it all a subtle flavour, although sadly the lemon got a bit lost.

We used fresh pasta from Donnini's, which gives any pasta-based meal a helping hand, although I reckon this would still come out okay using supermarket stuff. The recipe makes more than enough for four people and gave us some delicious leftovers at work on Friday.

Mushroom, lemon & tarragon tagliatelle
(a recipe available from Delicious magazine here)

2 tablespoons olive oil
50g butter
4 cloves garlic, sliced
8 flat mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons chopped tarragon leaves (plus a few in reserve for garnishing)
500g fresh tagliatelle
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
50g grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Heat half the butter and the olive oil in a frying pan.

When it's heated up, add the garlic and stir-fry for a minute or so until it has softened.

Add in the wine, tarragon and mushrooms along with generous sprinkles of salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly and simmer for a couple of minutes, until the wine has reduced a bit.

Cover the pan and keep simmering for another 10 minutes or so, until the mushrooms are nice and soft.

While the mushrooms are simmering, cook your pasta (our fresh tagliatelle took about five minutes in a pot of boiling water to be perfect).

Drain the pasta and combine with the mushroom mix in whichever container will fit the whole mix in. Stir in the lemon juice and zest along with what's left of the butter. Fold through the parmesan cheese and serve, garnished with the spare tarragon leaves.