Roasted Mushroom Pasta

Just to let you know, this post was written before I started the paleo diet to help ease my psoriasis. Nowadays I eat a more allergy-friendly diet, but leave these older, non-paleo posts up in case they are useful to readers, as I know not everyone eats the same as I do. Thanks for your understanding. 

There's one way to turn a run of the mill flat mushroom into something really quite glamorous and full of flavour. And that's to roast it. I discovered roasted mushrooms when I had a stray couple of flat mushrooms in the fridge that needed using up. I was bored of pan-frying them, and didn't fancy grilling them, so I wondered what they'd be like roasted. 

The mushroom slices darken in the oven and their flavour really intensifies. It was one of the best dinners I'd had in a long time and I couldn't wait to share it with you. Here's the recipe:



Roasted Mushroom Penne
Serves 1
Ingredients
2 flat mushrooms (about 100g)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large clove garlic, chopped
100g dried penne pasta

Method
Wash the mushrooms and remove the stalks. Cut into 5mm thick slices and spread out on a clean baking tray, drizzling over the olive oil and tossing gently so the mushrooms are well coated. Roast for 20 minutes in a 200ºC oven. 

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling, slightly salted water until tender. Drain, reserving half a mugful of the starchy cooking liquid. Once the 20 minutes are up, take out the hot tray of mushrooms and immediately sprinkle in the chopped garlic clove and let it soften slightly in the residual heat for a couple of minutes. Tip in the drained pasta, along with the reserved cooking water and toss together. Tip onto a plate and serve. 




Mushrooms: how do you like yours?