Pappardelle Alla Boscaiola Recipes

PASTA ALLA BOSCAIOLA

Steps:

• Place a large pot of water on to boil for pasta.
• Place dry mushrooms in stock in a saucepan and bring to low boil to reconstitute. Reduce stock by half, then set aside.
• Heat 1 tablespoon EVOO in a large pan over medium-high heat, add pancetta, guanciale or sausage and render. When pancetta starts to brown, add the fresh mushrooms.
• Strip and finely chop rosemary. Strip and stack sage leaves and very thinly slice. Add shallots, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs to fresh mushrooms, add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Add white wine and reduce by half. Add tomatoes and passata. Remove porcini mushrooms with slotted spoon from stock and add all but the last few tablespoons of stock (where grit may have settled) to the sauce. Reduce the heat under sauce to low simmer. Chop porcini mushrooms and add them to the sauce. Add heavy cream if using and stir.
• Add pasta and salt to boiling water and cook pasta 1 minute less than package direction. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water and drain pasta.
• Return pasta to hot pot, add some pasta water, the cheese, a little EVOO or butter and half of the sauce and toss vigorously 1 full minute to combine. Use more of the hot reserved water as necessary to loosen sauce if it becomes too thick. Serve family style or in shallow bowls topped with remaining sauce. Garnish with parsley.

RACH'S PASTA BOSCAIOLA-AKA WOODSMAN'S PASTA-IS A TUSCAN SPECIALTY

Steps:

• Place porcini in small pot and cover with stock, bring to low boil, reduce heat a bit and reduce liquid by half, 10 to 12 minutes
• Remove the mushrooms with slotted spoon, trying not to mix up the liquid too much (so any grit from the mushrooms stays at the bottom of the pot), and chop
• Reserve the mushroom stock
• Bring a pot of water to boil for the pasta
• Heat a large skillet with EVOO, 3 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat
• Add pancetta and render 2 minutes, add fresh mushrooms and brown with pancetta 5 to 6 minutes, add shallots, garlic and rosemary, and season with salt and red or black pepper
• Toss mushrooms 2 minutes more, then add about 1 cup of wine, let it absorb and reduce
• Add reserved stock and porcini, slowly pouring into the skillet leaving behind the last couple tablespoons to avoid adding the grit from the porcini mushrooms at the bottom of the pot, then add tomatoes and passata or puree, reduce heat to low to simmer
• Add cream
• Salt water and cook pasta 1 minute less than package directions to allow for carry over cooking
• Reserve ½ cup boiling pasta water and drain pasta
• Combine the pasta with about ⅔ of sauce, the cheese and use the pasta water as needed to keep moist, then add a little more EVOO to your taste
• Serve pasta topped with remaining sauce and pass extra cheese at table

PAPPARDELLE ALLA BOSCAIOLA

Steps:

• Steep the dried mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes, then mince them and add them to the cultivated mushrooms. Strain the steeping liquid, since it may contain sand, and add it to the sauce as well.
• Clean and dice the mushrooms.
• Sauté shallots , bacon and herbs for a few minutes in 4 tablespoons of oil in a casserole. Add the mushrooms, cook another minute, and then add a half cup of wine and the tomatoes.
• Season with a little pepper add mushroom reserved liquid and simmer the mixture over a very gentle flame for a 15 minutes.
• In the meantime bring pasta water to a boil, salt it, and cook the pappardelle.
• Add heavy cream to the sauce and simmer for another 5 minutes.
• Drain the pappardelle and season them with the sauce; serve them with grated cheese.