Farfalle in a Broth of Wild Mushrooms and Browned Shallots

Sorry I've been out of commission here for awhile. I've been...... distracted......... by Final Fantasy XII. Anyway, moving on. We're back for more pasta out of Fine Cooking. I hope you like mushrooms. We're working with shiitakes and oyster mushrooms. As, always, remember to brush the mushrooms off rather than rinsing them in water.

The Menu,:
Steak au Poivre
Farfalle in a Broth of Wild Mushrooms and Browned Shallots
Green Beans with Shallots
Navel Orange

Ingredients:
6 oz. Fresh Shiitake mushrooms
1/4 lb. Fresh oyster mushrooms
1/4 c. Extra Virgin Olive oil (EVOO)
Kosher Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
3/4 lb. dried Farfalle (Bow tie pasta)
4 Shallots, sliced crosswise into 1/4-1/8 inch rings
1/4 c. dry sherry
3 c. chicken broth (preferably low salt)
2 tsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/4 Tsp. Tabasco (or however much suits your taste)
1/4 c. grated Parmesan

How to:
1)Get a pot of water started boiling and salt it fairly heavily. Water for pasta should taste almost like the ocean.

2) Stem all the mushrooms and slice the caps thinly. Once that's done, start heating 2 Tbls. of EVOO in a large skillet. It should be over medium-high heat. This should only take a minute. Add all the mushrooms and some salt and pepper to the oil. Cook them while tossing for 2 or 3 minutes. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate.

3) Go ahead and add the pasta to the water. For the best results, the water should not lose it's boil when the pasta is added. This means a using a lot more water than the pasta on hand. It's a mistake I've made on more than one occasion.

4) Return the skillet to medium-high heat and add the last 2 Tbls. EVOO with the shallots. Season these with salt as well and cook for 2 minutes. Make sure to stir them occasionally. Now reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to cook the shallots. We want them softened and brown. It shouldn't take more than 4 minutes. Maybe as few as 2. Keep an eye on them since we don't want them to burn.

5) Bring the heat up to high and add your sherry to the shallots. Scrape the bottom of the pan while cooking the sherry and shallots until the sherry has boiled off almost completely. It shouldn't take more than a minute, but keep an eye on it and let it go longer if it needs to.

6) Add the chicken broth to the party and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.

7) Put the mushrooms back in the pan and drop the heat to medium. Cook it for another two minutes. Sprinkle the thyme over the the mixture and season it with the tabasco, salt and pepper until you like the flavor.

8) Once the farfalle is done drain it and put it back into the pot it cooked it. Pour the broth and mushrooms over the pasta and stir until well mixed. Serve immediately. Top with Parmesan.

Serves 4

Not really much to say here. You really want to make sure the sauce reduces as much as possible here. It's really easy to end up with something closer to soup and then the pasta stays kind of flavorless. Other than that, it's pretty good.

Health Info:
3 Starch servings
1 Fat serving
1/2 Veggie serving

::Malloreth out::