Creamy Mushroom & Bacon Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. of Olive Oil
• 2 Cloves of Garlic (sliced thin)
• 2 Thick slices of Smoked Bacon (diagonal slices)
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream (I warn you, this one is hedonistic)
• 1/2 Cup Dry white wine (Chef’s Pour also recommeneded)
• 3/4 Cup Chicken Broth
• 8 Oz Button Mushrooms (cleaned and sliced)
• 1 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan
• 1 Lemon Zest
• Juice from half the Lemon
• 1 Sun-Dried Tomato (thinly sliced – Optional)
• Large pinch of red pepper flakes (Optional)
• 1 Rosemary Sprig (Leaves removed and chopped)
• 2 Thyme Sprigs (Leaves removed and chopped)
• Salt and Pepper to Taste
• Basil if you have it for garnish (Parsley would have been better but I had plucked my garden clean already!)
• .5 lb (approximately) of a good dried pasta, for this I prefer Pisani Trofie
• 2 Clean bowls for Bacon & Mushroom cooking steps listed below.

Start with a Mise en Place for this dish. There are a few steps and you’ll be taking items in and out of the pan as they crisp and brown, so it’s helpful to be organized and have 2 small clean bowls on the side.

Directions:

1. In a large pan, Heat Olive Oil on medium
2. Add bacon strips and slowly render the fat out and crisp up your bacon
3. Remove Bacon to bowl 1 to incorporate back later. Bacon in pasta is magical, if left in the pan while cooking the rest of the dish, the star ingredient losses all the crisp texture you just worked so hard to develop.

If you are worried about too much fat… then remove some or all of the bacon grease but really why loose the rich porky goodness! I say, you’re going for broke on this one, so… quickly add garlic followed by the mushrooms. 

Brown mushrooms approximately 10 minutes. Tips for browning mushrooms.

At around 8 minutes, your mushrooms should be getting there, time to add the aromatics (Thyme, Rosemary, Lemon Zest, Red Pepper Flakes and Sun-Dried Tomato.) Just as these start to make your home smell phenomenal, your mushrooms should be ready.

Remove mushrooms to Bowl 2 and set aside to incorporate back in later.

Now’s the fun part, the double reduction. Similar to a marsala recipe, you’ll add and reduce in two separate steps. Add the white wine, scrapping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan, let the wine reduce by half.

Add the broth, lemon juice and cream.

As you allow the second addition of liquids to reduce, fire up a pot of water to boiling and get your pasta going. You’re about 10 minutes from plating.

Once the creamy liquid has reduced by half and started to thicken, add your cheeses stir to incorporate.

Once your pasta is al dente, drain well and add to the sauce in the pan. Stir to coat all the pasta well.

Add the mushrooms back in allowing the heat from the pasta and sauce to warm them back up.

Right before you plate, add half the bacon. You’ll be amazed how quickly the warmth of the pasta perfumes the air with bacon.

Salt & Pepper to Taste

Transfer to a serving bowl, top with the remaining bacon, some fresh basil or parsley as garnish.

Enjoy… just remember I warned you this one’s dangerously good!