We invited our good buddy over for dinner & a movie. He also very recently had to say good-bye to his kitty, and we thought it might be nice to get him out of the house.
I made paccheri aí funghi with super-fresh, beautiful if kinda freaky looking chicken of the woods a GF gifted me.
After sautéing a couple of tiny shallots, a bunch of garlic cloves & a few chopped bird peppers in a mix of olive oil and ghee, I added the sliced n diced up shrooms, a healthy shprinkle of salt, and covered the pot. I thought the shrooms would release their own juices, but they really did not, even though their aroma and flavor was reminiscent of chanterelles. I added hella more wine than I thought I would — a splash of open rosé, then some open red, and about a cup of hot water mixed with a smidgen of BTB mushroom base. Let all that simmer for about 30 minutes while cooking the paccheri, which mos def needed a longer boil than the 10-12 min the package claims. Added a healthy-ish amount of crème fraiche and TPSTOB from my friend’s garden before adding the pasta.
Caprese burrata was our trusted summer app to start us off. Sicilian rosé to drank with.
We sent our buddy home with the leftovers. He was a happy camper.
