Pasta with Mushrooms and Capers
This one is all my fault. That is to say, I usually start with someone else’s recipe and tweak my way to bliss but this time I didn’t. You see, I had another old guy moment and forgotten that I already had mushrooms and bought some more. There are worse things than having too many nice sliced mushrooms to deal with. I came up with this thing, kind of on the fly, but it was tasty.
Ingredients:
1 lbs. whole wheat pasta
16 oz sliced mushrooms
6 Tbs of butter or substitute
1 Tbs minced garlic
1/2 cup white wine
1/3 cup heavy cream or half & half or other substitute
1/4 cup Capers
2 tbs caper liquid brine
1 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided
2 tsp sweet basil
1/2 tsp of pepper flakes
Salt substitute and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil and cook pasta, reserving 1 cup of pasta water.
- In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat and melt butter substitute, add garlic, basil, and mushrooms, and sauté ~4-5 minutes.
- Reduce heat, add capers, and white wine, and stir occasionally for another 2-3 minutes before adding heavy cream and half the Parmesan cheese. Stir until combined and heated ~1-2 minutes. Taste the sauce and add salt and pepper as needed
- Drain pasta (reserving a cup) and place in a large bowl.
- Pour contents of skillet over pasta and mix well. Add reserved pasta water to obtain the sauce consistency desired.
Serve with good bread, and wine and top with grated Parmesan.