Pasta With Mushroom-thyme Cream Sauce

Total Time: 1 hr 15 mins Preparation Time: 45 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 lb sliced mushroom
• salt
• ground black pepper
• 1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms (rehydrated with 1 cup liquid reserved)
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1 lb linguine or 1 lb spaghetti

Recipe

• 1 **rehydrate the porcini mushrooms while the mushrooms brown.
• 2 bring large pot of water to boil (4 quarts water).
• 3 meanwhile, melt butter in medium saucepan over med-high heat; add in mushrooms and ¼ teaspoon salt; cook until browned, about 8 minutes.
• 4 while mushrooms cook, pureed rehydrateed porcini mushrooms, 1 cup reserved porcini liquid, half-and-half, soy sauce, thyme, and cornstarch in a blender until smooth, about 30 seconds.
• 5 stir shallot into saucepan with mushrooms; cook until softened, about 2 minutes.
• 6 stir in garlic; cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
• 7 stir in sherry and cook until nearly evaporated, about 1 minute.
• 8 briefly re-blend porcini mixture to dissolve cornstarch; then stir into saucepan and simmer until thickened, about 2 mintues.
• 9 remove sauce from heat and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• 10 add pasta and 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water; cook, stirring often, until al dente.
• 11 reserve ½ cup pasta water, then drain pasta and return to pot.
• 12 stir sauce into pasta and add reserved pasta water as needed to loosen sauce; serve immediately.