Pasta with Cream Truffle Sauce and Fresh Mushrooms
Beginning with basic pasta, Masataka Kobayashi adds elegance with chopped truffles and Madeira in cream sauce. He garnishes the dish with more chopped truffle and a mixture of wild mushrooms.
Ingredients
- Pasta
- Flour - 1 cup (70% semolina; 30% all-purpose, rice, or buckwheat)
- Flour for dusting
- Egg - 1
- Salt - 1 teaspoon
- Freshly ground white pepper - 1 teaspoon
- Water - 2 tablespoons
- Olive Oil - 2 tablespoons
- Sauce
- Unsalted Butter - 2 tablespoons
- Button mushrooms - 2 tablespoons, chopped
- Shallot Puree - 2 tablespoons
- Peppercorns - 1 teaspoon, crushed
- Bay Leaves - 2
- Dry white wine - 1 cup
- Chicken Stock - 2 cups
- Heavy (whipping) cream - 1 cup
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
- Finely chopped truffles - 6 tablespoons
- Madeira Wine - 1/2 cup
- Cepes Mushrooms - 1/4 cup, chopped
- Shiitake Mushrooms - 1/4 cup, sliced
- Chanterelle Mushrooms - 1/4 cup, chopped
- Olive Oil - 1 tablespoon
Instructions
To make the pasta: Place the flour on a work surface or in the bowl of a mixer. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well with your hands. Mix well. Roll into a ball, then knead by hand until smooth. Gather into a ball again and sprinkle with flour. Roll through a pasta machine, down to the thinnest setting, and cut into noodles. Dust noodles with flour, mound them, and cover loosely with plastic.
To prepare the sauce: Melt the butter in a sauté pan. Add the mushrooms, shallot puree, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Cook until all this liquid has evaporated and a glaze has formed on the bottom of the pan. Add the wine and stir up the glaze. Reduce over high heat for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock and continue cooking over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cream, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the mixture has reduced by one-third in volume, whisking gently to give it a smooth consistency. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Put 4 tablespoons of the truffles in another sauté pan and add the Madeira. Reduce over high heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Strain the cream sauce into the truffles and wine, then reduce, whisking to smooth. Set aside; keep warm.
To finish: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the noodles and cook to al dente. Drain. In a sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon chopped truffles. Season with salt and pepper. Add the drained pasta to the sauté pan and stir. Add a little cream truffle sauce to the pasta and stir to blend; heat through. In another sauté pan, sauté the cepes, shiitake, and chanterelle mushrooms in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until soft. Strain.
To serve: Ladle sauce onto each of four warmed serving plates. Swirl pasta in the center. Garnish each with sautéed mushrooms and the remaining chopped truffles.
