Pasta Boscaiola
Total Time
1 hour
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
40 minutes
Rating
5 out of 5 stars
(10)
Ingredients
4 servings
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
- 6 ounces pancetta (or thick-cut bacon), finely diced
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, quartered
- 3 shallots, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons finely-chopped fresh rosemary
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- fine sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 (15-ounce) can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 pound uncooked pasta (I used mezzi rigatoni)
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- freshly-grated Parmesan, for topping
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Preparation
Step 1
Soften the mushrooms
Step 2
In a medium saucepan, stir together the broth and dried porcini. Bring the stock to a simmer over high heat. Then reduce to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender.
Step 3
Heat the pasta water
Step 4
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously-salted water to a boil for the pasta.
Step 5
Fry the pancetta
Step 6
Meanwhile, cook the pancetta in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for about 3-5 minutes or until the fat has rendered. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the pancetta to a clean plate and set aside. Leave about 1.5 tablespoons of the pancetta grease in the pan and discard the rest. (Or if there’s not enough grease, add a bit of olive oil at any point while sautéing the veggies.)
Step 7
Sauté the veggies
Step 8
Add the quartered baby bella mushrooms to the pan and sauté in the pancetta grease, stirring occasionally, until browned. Add the shallots, garlic, rosemary, thyme, crushed red pepper flakes, and a few twists of black pepper and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
Step 9
Continue the sauce
Step 10
Gradually pour in the white wine and use a wooden spoon to loosen any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, cooked pancetta and stir to combine.
Step 11
Chop the mushrooms
Step 12
Meanwhile, transfer the cooked porcini mushrooms to a cutting board and roughly-chop them into bite-sized pieces. Transfer chopped mushrooms to the tomato sauce, along with 1 ½ cups of the porcini broth. (Be sure to filter the broth through a fine-mesh strainer to avoid any silt that may have gathered in the bottom of the pan.)
Step 13
Simmer
Step 14
Reduce heat to medium-low. Continue to simmer the sauce for about 15 minutes, or however long it takes the pasta to cook.
Step 15
Cook the pasta
Step 16
Meanwhile, add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until 1 minute shy of al dente. Reserve 1 cup of the starchy pasta water, then drain the pasta.
Step 17
Finish the pasta
Step 18
Stir the cream into the tomato sauce. Then combine the tomato sauce and cooked pasta in the large stockpot and gently toss for 1-2 minutes until the pasta reaches al dente, adding in a few spoonfuls of the starchy pasta water at a time if needed to thin the sauce. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.
Step 19
Serve. Serve immediately with a generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
Step 20
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