Oyster Mushroom with Fennel and Hazelnut

It has been a long time since my last pasta entry. I guess pasta is more of wintery comfort food along with Indian curry. There was a hilarious incident during class where when one of Korean students made a comment about pasta saying it was fatty, the passionate Italian student immediately came to the defence of the Italian national dish, throwing his hands in the air (typical Italian body language), all excited. The discussion, which went on for good 20 minutes, gave the whole class a teary laugh and made the poor Korean girl give an official apology for disgracing pasta and the population of Italy. We went back to our lesson, feeling relieved and thankful that it didn’t lead to World War Three. Instead, it gave us an opportunity to taste authentic tuna pasta cooked by the real Italian!!!! It was great and it proved to the girl that Italian can be light and tasty. *myth busted*

I wonder which side I would stand on if there were a war between the two countries. Probably… Italy for food, as I did during the classroom debate.

It reflexs the truth of misrepresented images of Italian food in many Asian countries. Their experience of Italian food makes people believe that all Italian dishes are cheesy, oily and creamy.

I often go to Paddy’s market on weekends to get different varieties of fungi, not button muchrooms, such as oyster, enoki, pine, shitake, etc. I love the flavour and texture of mushrooms, and mushrooms are so great on pizza and pasta.

So now I have oyster mushrroms and it is time to think of the flavour to compliment them. Poking in the fridge to come up with an idea, I spotted Italian cheese, pecorino, which I had had unopened for a month. Seeing the chance, I instantly decided on cheesy flavour and the things you see in the picture are what ended up as the base of my sauce.

I tried a new type of pasta, which I hadn’t used before, really thick feccucine made with semolina. You can alter this recipe to your preference by using different herbs such as sage and cilantro, and by adding a bit of tomato paste and cream to make pink sauce. Don’t be afraid of playing around with any ingredients you have on hand.

To make this lovely flavoursome pasta for 4

any pasta of your choice

for the sauce

300g oyster mushroom
3 shallots, finely sliced
3 clove garlic, minced
2 anchovy fillets, chopped
1 cup dry white wine
1 Tbs butter
3 Tbs olive oil
1/2 c pecorino cheese, grated
1/4 c parsley, chopped
fennel leaves

for the topping

1 bulb fennel, diced
1/3 cup roasted hazelnut, chopped
olive oil
salt, pepper, caynnene pepper to taste (for a zing!)

• Make the topping firstSauté the garlic, fennel and nuts in olive oil until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
• Make the sauce nowSlice  the oyster mushroom petals if they are too big. Chop any stem or core pieces from the mushroom.Sauté the shallots, anchovy and garlic in olive oil until the shallots just start to turn translucent. Remove from pan and set aside.

  Add some more olive oil to the pan and then the mushrooms. Gently stir them over medium high heat for a few minutes. Add wine, lower heat and cover. Cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and stir gently over medium heat until the liquid is nearly gone.Stir in the reserved shallot/garlic mixture, parsley, fennel leaves, butter, cheese.

• Cook the pasta in boiling salted water. When cooked, remove a dozen or so of the larger mushroom pieces to a side plate. Then, with tongs, lift the pasta directly into the pan with the mushroom sauce, allowing a little of the pasta water to ride along. Over medium heat, lift and toss the pasta to mix with the sauce (be careful not to break up the mushroom pieces).Serve with the reserved mushroom pieces and a sprinkling of the fennel/garlic topping and, if desired, a stalk or two of chives.

Verdict: It was a nice combination of flavours, but I “whoops-a-daisyed” a bit too much caynenne pepper into the topping, and that overpowered the delicate flavours of fennel and hazelnut, but overrall, it is worth a try, I THINK. I recommend nice rocket salad to go with this.