Miso Shitake Pasta
- Tracy Scheckel
- Sep 3
- 3 min read
I typically keep dehydrated forest mushrooms in the house for, you know, when I might need them for something. When I was on Amazon looking to replenish, I came across dehydrated whole shiitake mushrooms and couldn't help myself and ordered a bag.
Not unlike when you buy a new outfit or other item, you bring it home and you can't wait to wear or use it, I found myself thinking how to use, what for me amounts to a new toy. On a recent Sunday, when pasta is top of mind, I decided to re-hydrate some of the shitake and play with a miso based sauce. The result was so good that I bumped the next scheduled post and am sharing my miso shitake pasta recipe now.
I started by placing a good amount of mushrooms in water and heating in the microwave until almost boiling. I let them cool so I could inspect and repeated with the same water (adding enough to keep them covered if needed) until upon inspection, the shrooms were all plump and unwrinkled.
I love shitake when they are sliced and sauteed in butter until almost crisp and golden in color, so that where I started once they were re-hydrated completely. Once the mushrooms were cooked, I set them aside and set to making the actual sauce.
Because I was in Asian mode, it did my initial onion / garlic saute (what recipe doesn't start that way) with butter and sesame oil rather than my go-to olive oil. I had some beautiful spring onions in the house and reserving the tops for garnish, chopped 3 good sized ones along with 5 or 6 medium cloves of minced garlic and sauteed them until they were fragrant. After turning off the burner, I threw some of my chili crisp into the skillet and stirred it around to combine. Next I stirred in some some rice vinegar, white wine, and tamari and left it to rest.
Then for the miso, I made a paste by mixing white miso powder with some of the reserved water from the mushroom re-hydration and stirred that into the cooled ingredients in the skillet.
When the pasta was cooking, I heated the skillet on very low and added some heavy cream. When the pasta was al dente, using a spork, I transferred the pasta to the skillet. I added the mushrooms, 1C of the starchy pasta water, and 1/3C grated parmesan, and stirred until the sauce thickened and the pasta was well coated.
After transferring to a serving pan, I garnished with sliced spring onion tops, rainbow micro greens, shredded parmesan and a sprinkle of sesame seeds. The reviews from my taste testers (my husband and out nephew) were all it took for me to memorialize this recipe in a post.
THE RECIPE:
1Lb of linguini or fettuccine
1Lb of shitake fresh mushrooms or the equivalent (about 4oz by weight) of dehydrated.
1 stick of butter separated
2-4T sesame oil
1/2C diced onion
4 -6 cloves of fresh garlic minced
1/4C miso paste
1/4C chili crisp
1/4C tamari
1/4C rice vinegar
1/4C white wine
1C heavy cream
1C starchy pasta water
1/4-1/2C grated parmesan
Black pepper to taste
For garnish: sesame seeds, sliced spring onion tops, micro greens, shaved parmesan
If using dehydrated shitake, re-hydrate as described above and reserve the water when done.
Slice mushrooms 1/4" or so thick and saute in 4T of butter until just golden.
Remove mushrooms from skillet and set aside, put remaining 4T of butter and 2T of sesame oil in the pan on a low heat.
When the butter has melted add onion and garlic and saute for 5 to 10 minutes until fragrant and soft.
Combine miso powder with an equal amount of mushroom water, broth or just plain water and stir until completely combined.
Turn off the heat and stir in the chili crisp.
Stir the thickened miso paste into the skillet and add tamari, vinegar and white wine and stir until well combined.
While the pasta is boiling,return the skillet to low heat and add the heavy cream and stir until uniform in color.
Stir in the mushrooms and keep on low hear.
When the pasta is al dente, transfer it to the skillet reserving the pasta water.
Add 1C of the pasta water and the grated parmesan and stir until the sauce thickens and the pasta is well coated.
Transfer to a serving pan and garnish with onion tops, micro greens, shredded parmesan and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.
