clouds of mushrooms

Last week has been an excellent week for cooking. Made Chicken with Calvados from the "Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook" by Sharon Kramis which Beckey gave to me a few months ago, along with Rosemary Roasted potatoes, and it was absolutely delicious. I highly recommend that book.

Bought 3 lbs of mushrooms from Costco, so I had to decide what to do with them all. So I improvised the following dish, and it turned out delicious. If you don't love mushrooms, this is not the dish for you.

Farfalle with Mushrooms and Prosciutto in Thyme-Cream Sauce

1/2 lb. farfalle (bow-tie) pasta
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped, or 1/4 cup yellow onion finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp. prosciutto, finely chopped
10 large fresh mushrooms, washed & sliced 1/8-1/4" thick (your regular "white" mushrooms)
1 tbsp. paprika
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tbsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream
Salt & pepper

In a large pot, start bringing water to a boil, and add salt to water.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat, and add shallots, garlic, and prosciutto, and saute for 30 seconds. Then turn heat to high, add mushrooms, thyme sprigs, oregano, and paprika to pan and saute for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. The mushrooms will release a lot of water while cooking, but it will evaporate. Once mushroom "water" has evaporated, turn off heat.

Once pasta is cooked, drain pasta and add to skillet. Heat at high heat and stir mushroom/pasta mixture for 2 minutes. Turn off heat, then add cream and stir. Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. Will refridgerate and re-heat nicely as well.