Lunch · Dinner · Italian

Creamy mushroom & spinach tagliatelle

Name: Creamy mushroom & spinach tagliatelle
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 400g Egg tagliatelle; 500g Chestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced; 3 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced; 40g Italian-style hard cheese, finely grated; 1 Lemon; 2 tbsp Olive oil; 1 tsp Dried thyme; 300ml Half-fat crème fraîche; 100g Baby spinach

Browned mushrooms and silky ribbons in a lemony cream sauce. Twenty minutes, two pans.

Start to finish: 20 min
Hands-on: 19 min
In the fridge: 2 days
Freezes: Not well

VegetarianContains gluten, dairy, eggs

Ingredients

4 portions

400gEgg tagliatelle
500gChestnut mushrooms, thickly sliced
3 clovesGarlic, thinly sliced
40gItalian-style hard cheese, finely grated
1Lemon
2 tbspOlive oil
1 tspDried thyme
300mlHalf-fat crème fraîche
100gBaby spinach

Plus salt, pepper and water.

Method

1
Bring a big pan of salted water to the boil.
2
Meanwhile, thickly slice the mushrooms and thinly slice the garlic. Finely grate the cheese and the lemon zest.
3
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add the mushrooms and thyme and fry for 7 minutes, stirring only now and then, until golden and any liquid has cooked off. Season, then add the garlic for the last minute.
4
Meanwhile, cook the tagliatelle for the time on the packet, usually 6 to 8 minutes.
5
Scoop out a mugful of the pasta water, then drain. Turn the mushroom pan down low and stir in the crème fraîche with a splash of the water, then the spinach until it just wilts.
6
Tip in the pasta with half the cheese, the lemon zest and a good squeeze of juice. Toss, adding more pasta water until the sauce coats every strand. Season and serve with the rest of the cheese.

On the day

In warm bowls, with the rest of the cheese and plenty of black pepper at the table. Leftovers thicken in the fridge; warm them gently in a pan with a splash of water the next day, until piping hot.

Cook’s tip

Season the mushrooms only once they have browned. Salt draws out their water, and added too early it leaves them stewing instead of colouring.