Do You Like Mushrooms?

Sweetie loves mushrooms! It isn't really mushroom season, but we have a local place that grows them year-round. Like many foods, mushrooms aren't truly seasonal anymore when they are in the market and at a reasonable price every month of the year.

This casserole takes a bit of time because you're making the sauce from scratch, but it's not difficult. You end up with a deeply savory dish that goes well with almost anything grilled, so it's great this time of year. Everything is done on the top of the stove, too, so no oven necessary. That's a real issue since it is truly hot in many places around the world right now.

The starting place is a home-made mushroom sauce, plus boiled pasta. You can use any pasta you like, but these rotelli hold up to a lot of stirring, they tend to capture the sauce well, and you can find them in the multi-colored version I used. The pasta is plain, orange (probably has a bit of carrot juice in it) and green (maybe from spinach juice). This type of pasta takes longer to cook than noodles like spaghetti, but it's also bite sized, so easier to eat.

I confess that I made this casserole over a week ago. I found the photos in my photo group and realized that I never posted it. Since the recipe was made-up, I hope I can recapture all the ingredients!

If you make this, I'm betting you will enjoy the richness, full mushroom flavor, cheesiness from the two kinds of cheese, and the excellent sauce. It reheats well, too, should you have any leftovers.

Mushroom-Pasta Casserole

my own recipe
serves 4-6

1/2 pound (half a package) multi-colored dry rotelli pasta
boiling salted water to cook the pasta according to package directions

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter (salted or unsalted)
4 oz. crimini (brown) small mushrooms
2 tablespoons finely chopped yellow or white onion
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon dry thyme
1 cup broth, mushroom if you have it, but chicken, beef and vegetable are OK, too
1/2 cup milk - any level of fat OK
salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan - best quality available

Cook the pasta until al dente in the salted boiling water. Drain and keep warm.

While the pasta is cooking, in a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and melt the butter, then sauté the mushrooms and onions in the olive oil and melted butter until the onion is translucent. Add the flour and dry thyme and stir, over low heat, for a minute. Raise heat to medium-high. Combine the broth and milk and pour, all at once, to the skillet, stirring constantly, until the sauce begins to thicken. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.

Add the drained warm pasta to the mushroom sauce and stir well to combine. There may be some 'extra' sauce in the bottom of the pot. That's OK. Stir in the Swiss cheese, smooth the top to create a casserole, then sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over the casserole.

Cover and let sit over the lowest heat available, for five minutes. This will allow the flavors to meld a bit and for the extra sauce to be absorbed into the pasta.

Serve hot...and enjoy!