Pasta With Mushroom Ragu

Here’s the funny thing about this recipe. It started as a failed attempt to make a mushroom bolognese. I tried and tried and tested and tested and could not get the bolognese right. Once I gave up on my ideas and let the ingredients steer the path, we ended up with the rich, comforting, hearty, DELISH version of the pasta dish sitting before us today.

So, let’s get to it!

Let’s start with the pasta. I like a nice wide cut noodle for this, so I chose to go with a tagliatelle pasta. You could absolutely use a smaller or shorter cut of pasta, but I like the way the ragu coats every last inch of the big ol’ noodle. We’ll cook the pasta until al dente, and reserve some cooking water to help bring our sauce together.

For our ragu, we’re start with some finely chopped baby bella mushrooms. You guys all know about my texture issues with mushrooms so having a valid excuse to finely chop them up without judgement basically makes my day. We almost want the mushrooms to resemble a ground meat kind of texture, so the fine mince is the perfect compromise. We’ll cook the mushrooms in a mix of butter and olive oil along with some shallots and garlic, and our ragu is half way complete.

After our mushrooms have gotten some nice deep color on them, we’re going to deglaze the pan with some white wine. The wine does a couple of things for us. It helps us get up any brown bits that stuck to the pan. And, it helps to add a little sweet acidity to the sauce without weighing it down with too much liquid. If you don’t want to use wine, you could substitute a little veggie broth.

After our wine reduces, we’ll add in some tomato paste, some herbs de provence, and that reserved pasta cooking water. And, that’s pretty much our sauce. One thing to note about the herbs de provence is that it’s a pretty coarse herb. We want to crush it between our fingers before we add it to the pan to help break it down a little bit and to help activate those dried herbs.

After our sauce simmers for just a couple of minutes, we’ll add in our pasta along with a healthy handful of shredded parmesan cheese. And, it’s time to dig in.

This pasta is the definition of comfort food. It’s rich thanks to that tomato paste. It’s a little creamy thanks to the cheese. It’s earthy thanks to those mushrooms. And, it’s a stick to your ribs kind of meal that doesn’t leave you feeling miserable or overstuffed after you eat. Plus as far as ragus go, this one comes together super quick.

Simply put, it’s *chef’s kiss*.

Okie dokes! You guys know that I fight comfort food season as much as I can. But, if there’s anything you want to see us make this year, please let me know!

I hope you guys enjoy, and let’s eat!