Cheesy Mushroom & Goat Cheese Pasta #FrenchFridayswithDorie

Saturday, January 4, 2014




Hello my dear Doristas! I am back! It's been a while and I missed cooking from our favourite cookbook. I missed so many delicious recipes that our lovely online cooking community has been making and posting every Friday but I will make it up. I promise!

I am so happy that I decided to come back now! Today's recipe is such a treat! Dorie calls it a "Dressy Pasta Risotto" because it is "quick to make, yet chic enough to be served at a fancy dinner party". And even though she calls it a risotto her recipe has nothing to do with rice. It is pasta in a very creamy, delectably cheesy sauce.



Dorie uses butter to slowly sauté one chopped onion, which together with the pasta will boil into the chicken  stock. Then when the pasta is ready and the water almost gone from the pot she adds cream and mascarpone cheese and parmesan. The result is undeniably the most elegant macaroni cheese ever created! Almost like a risotto but not really...


I, of course,  went a bit rogue on this recipe again. Inspired by the "risotto" part of the recipe title I decided to use rice pasta instead of regular pasta. And also because in that way it would be gluten free and George and I would be able to enjoy it without too much guilt - there were very little I could do about the lactose free requirement of our diet so I used lactose free cream and goat cheese but I just could not  stop myself from adding in those tablespoons of mascarpone!! One thing I followed faithfully, was Dorie's suggestion that "it should be generously peppered". Oh my! It was so good! The sweetness of crushed red peppercorns and the spiciness of the green ones really elevated the taste!

Oh yes! It was definitely a good choice to come back to cooking with my online friends today!

To see how my fellow Doristas liked this recipe click here!


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Cheesy Mushroom & Coat Cheese Pasta
Adapted from "Around my French Table" by Dorie Greenspan
Serves 2 as a main or 4 as a side dish
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cups of chicken stock
250 gr rice pasta 
1 pinch dried mushrooms, about 3 - 4 mushrooms
50 gr hard goat cheese, grated
1/2 cup lactose free cream, like soy cream
3 tablespoons mascarpone
Red and green crushed peppercorns
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 180C/350F.
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the onion and season. Sauté stirring regularly until it is golden. 
Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and let it cook until it absorbs almost of the liquid. You might need to add more depending on the type of pasta you use. 
While you cook the pasta, pour the cream and 2 tablespoons of water into a small pan an add the dried mushrooms and fresh thyme. Bring to a boil and then remove it from heat, cover and let the cream infuse until the pasta is ready. 
When the pasta is ready pour in the cream and mushrooms, let boil for about 2 minutes, add the mascarpone, stir it around until it melts into the pasta and then put the pasta in an oven proof baking dish. Sprinkle with the goat cheese and a pinch of peppercorns and put it in the oven. Bake for no more than 10 minutes or until the cheese melts and takes a golden colour. 
Let it stand for 5 minutes and then serve. Enjoy!

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1 comment:

  1. That looks yum! I love the choice of rice pasta...how novel.

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