Wild Mushroom Fusilli

This simple pasta highlights the earthy, subtle truffle-like flavor of the black trumpets that we picked in Healdsburg, California last weekend. If you can’t find the black trumpets, or if they are ridiculously expensive (as they often are in NY), You can use creminis, sliced thin, and I would add a half ounce of reconstituted porcini mushrooms, diced small, instead. I used an egg to thicken the sauce but you would never know it since it disappears into creamy deliciousness. We drank a delicious Sunce 2008 Russian River Pinot Noir with it, and the mushrooms and the Pinot are a match made in heaven.

Wild Mushroom Fusilli
Serves 4
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cups of black trumpet mushrooms, pulled into edible-sized pieces
1 large shallot, minced
1 egg, whipped
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup pasta water (reserved after you boil the pasta)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lb fusilli pasta

1. Heat a large saute pan over medium high and melt butter. Add oil and heat to medium high for a minute.
2. Bring a 6 qt pot of salted water to a boil. When it boils, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Reserve 1/2-3/4 cup pasta water.
3. Add the shallot and saute until soft, about 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Shut off heat
4. Whip an egg and add the salt.
5. Toss the hot pasta, the mushroom mixture, the egg and 1/4 cup of the Parmesan. Turn heat on low and toss until the sauce becomes creamy. Careful not to turn the heat up too high or the egg can curdle.
6. Serve and top with the remaining Parmesan and fresh ground black pepper.