Entree/ Pasta/ Poultry

Smoked Mushrooms and Chicken with Pappardelle Pasta

Smokin’ mushrooms! And have a smokin’ happy Thanksgiving.

On the last leg of Canadian trip this past summer we were in Burlington, VT and I had made reservations at a cool restaurant, The Hen of the Wood in Burlington. Well, I thought it was in Burlington and when we had our Uber driver drop us off there was a sign on the door saying they had had a “fire” and please visit their Waterbury location. I had made reservations at the wrong restaurant (never done that before).

After walking around downtown for a while we settled on Pascolo Ristorante and chose to eat at the bar rather than wait an hour for a table. We love eating at  bars  if there is something interesting going on that we want to watch.  I ordered their delicious smoked mushroom pappardelle pasta with marsala cream, rosemary and truffle oil. Like many restaurant recipes it wasn’t hard to come up with a recipe.

You can use whatever pasta you want in this recipe but I loved the way the pappardelle pasta looked on the plate. I made this dish for the first time when my sister and two of her friends Lisa and Laura from back home came to visit for the Nutcracker Market and lots of other shopping. We had a great time, lots of shopping, eating and talking. And, we managed to fit in a trip to Bernhardt Winery for one of the Wine and Chocolate pairings. That was so much fun and having my sister and her friends along made the afternoon perfect. Hope they will all come back again.

If you get tired of eating leftovers after Thanksgiving, give this a try. I loved this dish and the smoky flavor of the mushrooms made all the difference. I added the chicken to the dish thinking we needed it for a more substantial dinner but we did not. When I make it again I will leave the chicken out.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Firey Pasta with Scallops is another pasta favorite of mine.

You can barely see the smoked mushrooms that my husband did for me.

Here they are. He smoked them using some pecan wood for about 20 minutes. They were great. I wished I had smoked the chicken also but I just grilled the thighs.

Add in the smoked mushrooms and chicken.

Then stir in the pasta and the parmesan cheese.

Smoked Mushrooms with Chicken and Pappardelle Pasta

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. chicken tenders cut into thin strips
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 lb. whole mushrooms smoked*
  • 1 Tbsp. Truffle oil or 1/2-1 tsp. truffle salt
  • fresh parsley chopped, garnish
  • 1 lb. pappardelle pasta cooked al dente
  • 1/2 c. parmesan cheese
  • Sauce:
  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic cut in slivers
  • 1/2 c. marsala wine
  • 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
  • 2 c. heavy cream
  • fresh parsley chopped (about 1 tsp. chopped)
  • 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary

Instructions

  1. If you decide to smoke the mushrooms, drizzle with a little olive oil and put in heat proof pan. Start your smoker and set at 250° and let the mushrooms smoke for 20-30 minutes or until they are tender and have reduced in size. Cut mushrooms in half. (If you do not have a smoker, set 2 chunks of hardwood over charcoal and set the mushrooms over indirect heat so they don't burn and let grill until they are under, may be less time since the grilling temperature will be different.)

  2. Cut the chicken into small strips about 1/2" and heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet. When the oil is hot, add the chicken strips and state quickly until they are done. Remove from pan and set aside.
  3. Prepare the sauce: Put the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil in saucepan and add garlic and stir until slightly browned and then the two tablespoons of flour and stir until it is cooked and lightly browned. This will remove the raw taste of the flour. Add in the marsala wine and the two cups of heavy cream, chopped rosemary and stir until the sauce starts to thicken. This should take 3-4 minutes. When the sauce has thicken add the halved smoked mushrooms to the sauce and 1 tsp.truffle oil or about 1/2 tsp. truffle salt.
  4. For the pasta: cook in boiling salted water until it is al dente. Mix the sauce/mushrooms with the pasta and sprinkle with some fresh parsley and additional rosemary. Add parmesan cheese to your liking.

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