Magic Pasta with Mushrooms, Garlic, Cream, and Wine

When I first saw references to this all-in-one method of making pasta, I was sceptical. Surely it couldn’t be possible to cook the sauce and the pasta all at once in the same pan? It seemed to violate every rule in Italian cooking. But then I realized that the method is not really so far from a risotto. The bonus of this technique—aside from incredible speed and ease and minimal washing up—is that the pasta is seasoned by the sauce as it cooks and becomes deeply flavored with wine, aromatics, stock—whatever you choose to add. It works with any shape of pasta—but a good quality brand makes a big difference here—and almost any combination of vegetables and other flavorings such as anchovies or cured meats. You just have to be careful to measure the ratio of pasta to water accurately, use a wide shallow frying pan or sauté pan (it won’t work in a tall narrow saucepan) and be generous with your seasoning.

The Secret of Cooking Bee Wilson

This will never be my first-choice way to cook pasta. On leisurely evenings, I still prefer the time-honored process of cooking the noodles and the sauce separately (a method that my youngest son now calls “Muggle Pasta” to distinguish it from “Magic Pasta”). And yet, I can’t urge you strongly enough to learn this technique and have it in your head for when you are in a pinch and you need a hot meal right now.

On those days when time and/or energy are scarce, you can rely on this formula to pull you through. It’s a dish that is very kind on the cook and you feel you are somehow pulling off a miracle. I made a version of it with cauliflower and chorizo for a late lunch the day of my father-in-law’s socially distanced funeral. Because of the pandemic, there was no food after the funeral. Family members stood in a cold and empty parking lot trying to make gestures of love and sorrow to one another from behind our masks. When the children and I finally arrived home, we felt flat, grief-stricken, and insatiably hungry. Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting down to a warming and savory tangle of linguini with chorizo and flecks of saffron-yellow cauliflower. We were still sad but at least we didn’t feel quite so empty inside.

Actually, my favorite version of this pasta isn’t the cauliflower one but a variant made with mushrooms and garlic and cream and wine that tastes the way I remember Italian restaurant food tasting in Britain in the 1980s. It’s also a bit like the canned mushroom soup my father was once so fond of; don’t let that put you off. It has a deep umami quality that comforts me to my core. But do try the cauliflower version too—it’s good.

Serves 1

INGREDIENTS

• 4 oz/ 120g mushrooms (I usually make it with brown button but any kind will do, even plain old white button)

• 3 1/2 oz/ 100g pasta, any kind that says on the package that it will cook in 10 minutes (I favor linguini here but penne also works)

• 1–2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and grated

• A knob of unsalted butter

• 1 1/2 cups/ 30g flat-leaf parsley, chopped

• 2 tablespoons white wine or vermouth

• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

• A squeeze of lemon

• Parmesan, to serve

DIRECTIONS

Take the mushrooms and grate them coarsely on a box grater (or blitz them in a food processor). Put all the ingredients up to and including the white wine into a wide frying pan or sauté pan (keeping back a handful of the parsley) and add ⅓ teaspoon of salt and 12/3 cups/400ml of water from a freshly boiled kettle. It will look wrong putting wet and dry ingredients together so haphazardly but have faith—it will all come together. Put over high heat and bring to a boil with the lid on. Continue to simmer with the lid on for 5 minutes, checking and stirring every 1 minute. Now remove the lid and cook for 3–5 minutes more with the lid off, stirring frequently with tongs or a wooden spoon. If it looks dry or if the pasta isn’t cooked, add another splash of water but you don’t want it to go too soupy. Creamy, yes; soupy, no. Continue to cook, testing pieces of pasta, until it is done to your liking. Add the cream and squeeze of lemon. Test for seasoning. Serve with the reserved parsley and parmesan on top. Devour.

Once you get the basic concept of this pasta, you soon see you can adapt it to almost any flavors that you like. Here are a few more ideas for 3–4 people:

Cauliflower, saffron, and chorizo

 7 oz/200g of chorizo (any kind), cut into coins, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 121/4 oz/350g of dried pasta, a large cauliflower (about 1 lb 2 oz/500g), chopped very small, 31/2–7 oz/100–200g of cherry tomatoes, halved, 2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and grated, 51/4 cups/1.25 liters of water, 1 teaspoon of salt, a pinch of saffron strands, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika. At the end: a squeeze of lemon and some toasted sliced almonds plus chopped parsley.

Leek, seaweed, and ginger

121/4 oz/350g of dried pasta, a few sliced leeks, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, a quarter of a cabbage, sliced, 1 large spoonful of miso paste, a thumb of ginger, grated, ¾ teaspoon of salt, 2 cloves of garlic, grated, 51/4 cups/1.25 liters of water. A minute before the end: 1 cup/150g of frozen peas. At the end: lime juice and zest, black sesame seeds, torn nori seaweed.

Excerpted from “The Secret of Cooking: Recipes for an Easier Life in the Kitchen.” Copyright © 2023 by Bee Wilson. Used with permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved.

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