Tagliatelle ai porcini recipe for peak mushroom season

Tagliatelle ai porcini pairs fresh egg pasta with Italy's most prized wild mushroom, seared hot and fast so the porcini keep their bite instead of turning to mush.

Porcini season runs from late summer into autumn across the Apennines and the Alps, when cool nights and rain push the mushrooms up through beech and chestnut woods. Cooks in Piedmont, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna have paired them with fresh pasta for generations, in a dish simple enough that the mushroom, not the technique, does the talking.

The classic method, funghi trifolati — sliced and cooked quickly with garlic, oil and parsley — is the base for the sauce here. The porcini go into a hot pan in batches, never all at once, so they sear rather than steam.

Sear the porcini in batches, never all at once, or the pan steams instead of browning.

Ingredients

• 400 g fresh tagliatelle (or 300 g dried)
• 400 g fresh porcini mushrooms
• 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, whole and lightly crushed
• 40 g unsalted butter
• 60 ml dry white wine
• 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 40 g Parmesan, grated, plus more to serve
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Clean the porcini with a damp cloth or soft brush rather than water, since the caps absorb it and turn slick. Slice the caps and stems about 5 mm thick.
2. Heat half the olive oil in a wide pan until it shimmers. Add half the porcini in a single layer and leave undisturbed for two minutes so they sear rather than release water, then turn and sear the other side. Remove and repeat with the rest — crowding the pan is why so many home versions turn watery.
3. Return all the porcini to the pan with the garlic and butter. Cook for a minute, then pour in the wine and let it bubble off for about 90 seconds, scraping up anything stuck to the pan.
4. Cook the tagliatelle in well-salted boiling water until just short of al dente — about two minutes for fresh pasta. Lift it straight into the mushroom pan with a little cooking water still clinging to it.
5. Toss over medium heat for a minute, adding a splash more pasta water if the sauce looks dry, until the pasta is glossy and coated. Off the heat, stir in the parsley and Parmesan, season, and serve immediately.

Dried porcini, and what to drink

Fresh porcini are worth seeking out but not essential: 30 g dried porcini, soaked for 20 minutes in warm water and then chopped, will carry the dish through winter — strain the soaking liquid and use it in place of the wine.

A Barbera d'Alba or a young Chianti, with enough acidity to cut through the butter, is the traditional match. Both regions grow porcini in their own back gardens, not far from where Piedmont's white truffle season opens a few weeks later.