Spaghetti with spicy hazelnut mushroom pesto, basil and burrata

Often when people dislike foods that you enjoy it’s hard to imagine why, apart from when it’s mushrooms. I enjoy mushrooms in most scenarios, but I can totally understand if you don't. We’ve all had a bad mushroom experience. We’ve all had an undercooked, grey-ish sliced button mushroom make an appearance in some ill-prepared creamy concoction. Slippery, slimy, just all together horrible. Some of us have recovered from those experiences, and know that mushrooms are delicious when prepared well, but for others they are ruined forever. This recipe is a humble attempt to bring the flavor of mushrooms to the people of that latter category. The poor souls ruined by the creamy mushroom soups of this world.

Ingredients #

For 2:

• 200g spaghetti
• 15g dried porcini mushrooms
• 100g shiitake mushrooms
• 2 red chillies
• 40g hazelnuts
• 3 garlic cloves
• 40g Parmigiano Reggiano
• Olive oil
• Handful of basil leaves
• 1 burrata
• Black pepper
• Salt

Method #

1. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil and cook the spaghetti al dente according to package instructions.

2. Add the dried porcini mushrooms to a bowl with some warm water and let them soak for about 15 minutes.

3. Heat up some olive oil in a large skillet, then chop the shiitake mushrooms and chillies roughly and fry until darkened and the mushrooms have lost most of their water, about 15 minutes.

4. When the mushrooms are almost done, add the hazelnuts to the skillet to toast. Then drain the porcini mushrooms and add them to the mixture.

5. With a food processor or blender, blend the mushrooms mixture together with some olive oil, the garlic cloves, and the parmesan cheese into a smooth-ish paste. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.

6. Add the mushroom pesto back to the skillet, and toss the pasta through once it’s done cooking, together with a few splashes of pasta water to help loosen up the sauce and make it glossy.

7. Plate the pasta, top it with burrata and basil and enjoy!

Tried and tested with a true mushroom hater, and I can confirm that pesto-ing it does the trick!