Creamy Mushroom & Bacon Orecchiette
This creamy mushroom & bacon orecchiette is the ultimate weekday meal! There's crispy bacon, pan fried mushrooms, homemade pasta & a rich, creamy sauce. What's not to love?
Servings: 3 People
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl
- Dough Knife
- Eating Fork
- Large Saucepan
- Large Frying Pan
- Microplane/Grater
- Slotted Spoon
Ingredients
Orecchiette
- 250 g Durum Wheat Semolina Flour
- 125 g Lukewarm Water
Creamy Mushroom & Bacon Sauce
- 2 tbsp Vegetable Oil
- 6 Rashers Smoked Streaky Bacon
- 150 g Chestnut Mushrooms
- 3 Cloves Garlic
- 20 g Butter
- 2 tbsp Mascarpone
- 75 g Parmesan Plus Extra To Serve
- 1 tsp Porcini Powder
- ½ Lemon, Juiced
- 1 tbsp Chopped Parsley
- ½ tbsp Chopped Tarragon
Instructions
Orecchiette
- Weigh the flour into a mixing bowl then add in the water. Mix with a spatula to form a rough dough then tip out onto a clean worksurface (a wooden board is best).
- Knead the pasta dough by hand for 10 minutes or until smooth.
- Wrap in clingfilm & leave to rest for 10 minutes.
- Next, using a dough knife, cut off a quarter of the dough, leaving the rest wrapped in cling film.
- Using your hands, roll the piece of dough into a long sausage, roughly 1cm in diameter. Then with a dough knife, cut the pasta into 1cm pieces.
- To shape, you'll need an eating/table knife.Take a piece of dough & press the knife down on the edge furthest away from you. Now drag the knife over the piece of dough so that it stretches & curls. Next, gently remove the pasta from the knife then use your thumb to turn it inside out.
- Place the orecchiette onto a tray dusted with semolina flour.
- Repeat this with the remaining dough.Once shaped the dough can either be cooked straight away or left to dry out at room temperature then stored in an airtight tub until ready to use.
Creamy Bacon & Mushroom Sauce
- Cut the bacon into lardons, slice the mushrooms & thinly slice the garlic. Set each aside in separate containers.
- Next, pour the vegetable oil into a large frying pan & set over a medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the bacon into the pan & cook until crispy, stirring regularly.Once cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon then place into a bowl, leaving the fat in the pan.
- Whilst the bacon is cooking, fill a large saucepan up with water, set over a high heat & bring to the boil.
- To the bacon pan, add in the mushrooms & garlic, season with salt & pepper then fry over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, or until they've started to soften & any liquid has evaporated.Chuck in the butter & cook for another 2-3 minutes then add the bacon back in & remove the pan from the heat.
- Once the water is boiling, season generously with salt then add in the pasta. Give it a stir then cook until the pasta is al dente. This will take around 6 minutes.
- When the pasta is almost cooked, place the pan of mushrooms back over a low heat then add in the mascarpone, parmesan, porcini powder & lemon juice.
- Add in the cooked pasta, along with a ladle full of pasta water then increase the heat to medium.
- Season generously with salt & freshly cracked black pepper & cook until the cheese & pasta water have emulsified into a creamy, glossy sauce. This will take a couple of minutes.If the sauce looks too thick, add in some more pasta water.
- Remove the pasta from the heat & stir in the chopped herbs. Taste the sauce to check the seasoning then portion into bowls.
- Grate a good amount of parmesan over each portion, finish with a crack of black pepper then serve.
Notes
To cook on an Aga, use the boiling plate for the medium/high heat & the simmering plate for the low heat.
The creamy mushroom & bacon sauce is best served straight away.
I've used smoky bacon for this recipe but feel free to use unsmoked if you would prefer.
Porcini powder is optional & can be purchased online & in some supermarkets.