PASTA ALLA BOSCAIOLA

Pasta alla Boscaiola image

Provided by Rachael Ray : Food Network

Time 30m

Yield 4 servings

Number Of Ingredients 17

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1 cup dried porcini mushrooms
2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock, for vegetarian preparation
5 to 6 tablespoons EVOO
1/2 cup diced pancetta or guanciale or 1/2 pound sweet sausage, optional
1 pound maitake/hen of the woods mushrooms or mixed mushrooms, trimmed or pulled into pieces or sliced
3 stems fresh rosemary
3 stems fresh sage
3 shallots, finely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, grated, sliced or chopped
Salt and coarse black pepper
1 cup white wine
1 can (14 ounces) Italian tomatoes or diced tomatoes
1 to 1 1/2 cups passata or tomato puree
3 tablespoons heavy cream or butter, optional
1 pound pappardelle
1 to 2 handfuls pecorino cheese
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf Italian parsley

Steps:

Place a large pot of water on to boil for pasta.
Place dry mushrooms in stock in a saucepan and bring to low boil to reconstitute. Reduce stock by half, then set aside.
Heat 1 tablespoon EVOO in a large pan over medium-high heat, add pancetta, guanciale or sausage and render. When pancetta starts to brown, add the fresh mushrooms.
Strip and finely chop rosemary. Strip and stack sage leaves and very thinly slice. Add shallots, garlic, salt, pepper and herbs to fresh mushrooms, add 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Add white wine and reduce by half. Add tomatoes and passata. Remove porcini mushrooms with slotted spoon from stock and add all but the last few tablespoons of stock (where grit may have settled) to the sauce. Reduce the heat under sauce to low simmer. Chop porcini mushrooms and add them to the sauce. Add heavy cream if using and stir.
Add pasta and salt to boiling water and cook pasta 1 minute less than package direction. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water and drain pasta.
Return pasta to hot pot, add some pasta water, the cheese, a little EVOO or butter and half of the sauce and toss vigorously 1 full minute to combine. Use more of the hot reserved water as necessary to loosen sauce if it becomes too thick. Serve family style or in shallow bowls topped with remaining sauce. Garnish with parsley.