Homemade Pasta With Wild Mushroom Tomato Sauce

Pasta is Italy’s favorite dish. A noodle typically made with durum wheat flour, pasta has over 600 types. A pasta dish is really simple to make but equally delicious and healthy, too. In today’s recipe we’re making a homemade pasta. Store-bought fresh pasta may include egg but this recipe uses silken tofu and extra virgin olive oil to replace the eggs, which will give you the same result minus the unwanted cholesterol. The tomato-based sauce is made “meaty” with two types of mushrooms. Want to impress your date? Serve this hearty pasta dish with bread warmed briefly in the oven and a glass of wine.

Ingredients:

This recipe takes about 30 minutes to make. The pasta dough is kept in the fridge for at least 40 minutes. Serves 6.

Fresh Pasta:

• 4 oz silken tofu
• 2 cups of semolina flour
• 1 tbsp + 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp water
• a pinch of kosher salt
• bread flour, for dusting

Wild Mushroom Tomato Sauce:

• 2 cups of hot water
• 2 oz dried porcini mushrooms
• 2 tbsp safflower or grapeseed oil
• 1 large white or yellow onion, small dice
• 1 lb shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 cup of red wine
• 4 tomatoes, diced
• 15 fresh basil leaves, cut into chiffonade
• kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

To make the pasta, put all the ingredients except the dusting flour into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until it forms a ball.
Dust your work surface and knead the dough a few times until smooth and elastic.
Warp in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Cut the pasta dough into quarters and roll each quarter out using a pasta machine or rolling pin until it is nice and thin. Make sure you dust if every time with bread flour to avoid sticking.
Cut the pasta into the desired shape.
Cook the pasta in a generously salted boiling water for 2 minutes.

To prepare the sauce, thoroughly wash the dried mushrooms in very cold water to remove any grit or dust.
Put dried mushroom in a bowl and pour hot water. Let this steep for 10 minutes.
Drain the mushrooms and set the liquid aside.
In a large saucepan, heat oil over high heat.
Add onions and sauté until the onions are lightly browned. This will take about 8 minutes.
Add the shiitake mushrooms and continue sautéing until they begin to brown.
Add minced garlic and oregano and stir for 2 minutes.
Pour in red wine and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.
Add tomatoes and reconstituted porcini mushrooms. Carefully pour in three-quarters of the mushroom liquid, leaving behind the last bit as it may contain dust, sand or dirt.
Simmer the sauce for 10 minutes over low heat.
Stir in basil and season with salt and pepper.
Place the cooked pasta in a bowl and top with sauce.

Ideas And Tips:

• Chiffonade is a slicing technique in which herbs or green leafy vegetables are cut into long thin strips. This is done by stacking the leaves, rolling them tightly, then slicing the leaves perpendicular to the roll.

• Homemade fresh pasta can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 or 2 days or frozen for 2 to 3 months.

images – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1w1bvsMt8s