I had been making this sort of pasta for a long time, but after reading Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden, I was inspired to try some kinds of mushrooms I don’t usually have; enter maitake, chanterelle, and trumpet mushrooms. Mostaccioli is sort of mix between penne and rigatoni, but either rigatoni or mostaccioli works (though McFadden uses rigatoni since its a little wider). This is the kind of recipe that is easy to make, but can be made better in some cases than others. Using good mushrooms is a must for this recipe – the standard small Portabella mushrooms you get at the grocery store would be fine, but you would be missing out.
Maitake, Sausage, Mostaccioli
Ingredients
- 1/2 bag mostaccioli or rigatoni
- 1/2 pound sausage preferably in bulk rather than in casings
- 3 cloves garlic smashed
- 1 small container/pound mushrooms maitake, chanterelle, cremini
- 1 T butter
- Handful grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Bring large pot of heavily salted water to boil. Cook pasta according to directions on package. Reserve a cup or so of pasta water.
- Heat skillet or Dutch oven to medium-high heat. Form sausage into a couple large patties then add to pan. Flip patties a couple times, then break into bite size pieces. Once cooked, take out sausage and drain grease.
- Turn to medium-low heat and add garlic. Let brown – be careful that it doesn’t cook too quickly, you want it toasted not burnt – for four minutes or so.
- Once garlic cooked, add mushrooms. Sauté for a couple minutes then season heavily with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes or so until “browned around the edges”.
- Pull pan from heat, add butter and a few tablespoons of pasta water. Mix to combine – it should start to look creamy. Add pasta and sausage. Mix again. Add parmesan and toss again. Add more seasoning to taste (crushed red chili flakes were a nice addition), and serve.