Pasta BURSTING with umami flavor from a porcini Paradiso sauce, LOADED with luxuriously creamy burrata cheese and earthy mushrooms! Decadent comfort food to the max!
Why This Recipe Works
- Blooming the Porcini Paradiso in olive oil! Releases more of the spice blends flavor and helps to distribute it evenly throughout the finished dish.
- Undercooking the pasta in boiling water! And finishing it in the skillet of simmering sauce results in perfectly al dente pasta that’s absorbed even more flavor!
- Making use of that starchy pasta water! Thickens our sauce so the pasta is well-coated!
- Finely grating the cheese on a microplane grater! Instead of shredding it results in a smoother and silkier sauce where it’s better absorbed.
This dish a riff off of the classic Roman pasta dish, Cacio e Pepe, that swaps the pepe for a Porcini Paradiso spice blend!
Technique: Blooming Porcini Paradiso
Blooming refers to cooking spices in a hot fat, such as oil or ghee, until they’re fragrant. It’s a technique often used in Indian and other South Asian cuisines. This technique has many names, such as chhonk, tadka, vaghar, or tempering, among other names.
Blooming amplifies the Porcini Paradiso’s flavor and infuses our olive oil, which becomes the base for our pasta sauce. Win-win!
Technique: finish cooking pasta in skillet of simmering Porcini Paradiso sauce
Adding the undercooked pasta to the sauce means it absorbs more of its flavor and the finished dish is perfectly al-dente.
If things in the pan look like they’re drying out before the pasta is done cooking, simply add another splash or two of that starchy pasta water! It helps thicken the sauce and coat the pasta.
Ingredients
Pasta, Porcini Paradiso, Burrata, Mushrooms… Bring it on!
Pasta: Any long pasta shape works best for our silky sauce, such as pappardelle, spaghetti, linguine, or fettuccini.
Porcini Paradiso: Spice Tribe's spice blend of dried porcini mushrooms, garlic and rosemary with a hint of Calabrian chili.
Burrata: Is a soft Italian cow milk cheese made from mozzarella and cream. If you can’t find burrata, a fresh, mild and creamy mozzarella can be used instead or full fat ricotta (made with only milk, salt and an acid or starter enzyme).
Mushrooms: Any variety of fresh mushrooms can be used or a combo. It’s the perfect dish to explore the whole wide world of wild mushrooms!
Cooks Tips
- Absolutely start with heavily salting your pasta water! Salted water flavors the pasta from the inside out as the pasta absorbs the water, leading to tastier pasta.
- Let the Porcini Paradiso bloom in the olive oil butter mixture until very fragrant! To release more of the dreamy blends flavor and infuse the base of our sauce!
- For a perfectly al dente finished dish, undercook the pasta in boiling water by 1-2 minutes!
- Remember to save some of that starchy pasta water for the sauce!
Stoked on Pasta? Check out this Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Pasta with Cauliflower!
Have ya tried this recipe? I’d love to hear about it and see it too! Please leave a comment below and share it on Instagram with the tag with @DanielaGerson. You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest to see more colorfully delicious food and all sorts of awesome adventures!
Let’s make waves in the kitchen!
Cacio e Porcini Paradiso
Ingredients
- kosher salt
- 1/2 pound long pasta such as pappardelle, tagliatelle or spaghetti (8oz)
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil divided
- ½ pound mushrooms (8oz) any variety or a mix, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
- 1 ½ tablespoons Porcini Paradiso
- 2 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese very finely grated (on a Microplane or the smallest
- holes of a box grater)
- 8 oz balls fresh burrata cheese 8oz balls
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to boil; add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes less than the package directions (it will finish cooking in the sauce). Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta water.
- Meanwhile, met 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, season with salt and cook until they release their juices and begin to caramelize, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
- Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the Porcini Paradiso; cook, swirling the pan, until very fragrant, about 1 minute. Add a pinch of salt and stir; take 1 tablespoon of this porcini Paradiso mixture out and set aside.
- Add ½ cup of the reserved pasta water to the porcini Paradiso skillet; bring to a simmer. Add pasta and remaining tablespoon of butter to the skillet; toss with tongs until pasta is evenly coated and perfectly al dente. (Add more pasta water if sauce seems dry.)
- Remove pan from heat and add pecorino; stirring and tossing with tongs until cheese melts.
- Transfer pasta to serving dish or bowl, top with sauteed mushrooms and pieces of burrata cheese then drizzle with remaining porcini Paradiso mixture.
Notes
- Absolutely start with heavily salting your pasta water! Salted water flavors the pasta from the inside out as the pasta absorbs the water, leading to tastier pasta.
- Let the Porcini Paradiso bloom in the olive oil butter mixture until very fragrant! To release more of the dreamy blends flavor and infuse the base of our sauce!
- For a perfectly al dente finished dish, undercook the pasta in boiling water by 1-2 minutes!
- Remember to save some of that starchy pasta water for the sauce!
Leave a Reply