Mushrooms and Hatch Green Chilis Over Pasta

Mushrooms and Hatch Green Chilis Over Pasta is rich and luxurious with just that little bit of zip that makes this pasta dish one of the best I have ever made. In most farmer’s markets, there is quite often a mushroom vendor. Here in Northern Colorado at the Loveland Farmer’s Market, we are lucky to have two! One of them has a huge variety of mushrooms I have never seen. Mushrooms come in many different shapes and sizes. Though I would never personally go mushroom hunting, I love trying out ones I can trust from a vendor. I had a great conversation with one on what would go with pasta, and we came up with several different ones that made up this fantastic recipe. Of course, this pasta dish would be excellent with just white button mushroom or their brown cousins, creminis. But the depth of flavor of the exotic mushrooms brought this dish to new heights. I understand exotic mushrooms can be a little pricey, but not as much as you think. (I spent less than $20 on the entire recipe, which is less than if I used a good cut of beef.) So this dish can be made economically with the traditional varieties.

Willow Creek Mushrooms and I came up with three mushrooms for this recipe: PoHu Oyster mushrooms, a rich butter-flavored mushroom. Black Pearl King Oyster mushrooms are absorbent and have a mild, meaty flavor. And Chestnut Mushrooms have a nutty, mildly sweet flavor, and even the stems are delicious, almost like asparagus. The combination of the three and a bunch of creminis (the brown ones in your local grocery store) made this pasta dish incredible.

Here in Colorado, it is now also hatch green chili season, and you are greeted with the incredible smells of chilis roasting over a hot fire as you shop for tomatoes and peaches and more hot sauce than you could possibly need. You can buy Ziplock plastic bags of still hot chilis with little bits of charred skin left on them for just a few bucks, and you will have something to add some zip to many a fabulous dish. Adding some to this, Mushrooms and Hatch Green Chilis Over Pasta was a no-brainer. The heat was perfectly balanced with the meaty mushrooms and the cream.

If you are in Northern Colorado and want to check out Willow Creek Mushrooms, they have a site where you can order all their different mushrooms. They also post their schedule for where to find them at the many farmer’s markets in Northern Colorado during the season and Fort Collins and Greely’s markets all year long. And they deliver too! I used this 14-inch skillet to cook the mushrooms in batches. It is fantastic for making large meals and has an incredible cooking surface. You want as large a surface as possible to cook the mushrooms so that they don’t stew in their own juices and become rubbery. One thing about mushrooms I see way too often: never, ever wash your mushrooms! Just brush them off or wipe gently with a damp towel. Washing them adds more water and makes them hard to cook, making them rubbery. I have this nightmare memory of my stepmother washing them in a colander full of water before adding them to spaghetti. The result was chewy, rubbery chunks. Yuck!

Ok, that is all for this week. I hope you try this Mushrooms and Hatch Green Chilis Over Pasta. It is extraordinary and would be a showstopper for a special dinner. I had some leftovers the next day and decided to place a poached egg on top. Making this dish even more decadent, the egg added something even more incredible. Next time I serve it to guests, I’ll add them to each dish to really take it over the top. I hope you are all staying safe and healthy out there in this crazy world. Please think of others in your choices. Together, we can all get through this. Until next time!

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Mushrooms and Hatch Green Chilis Over Pasta

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

30 mins

Total Time

40 mins

 

Mushrooms and Hatch Green Chilis Over Pasta, A mixture of exotic and cremini mushrooms combined with a little heat from hatch green chilis makes this an incredible pasta dish.

Course: Dinner, Pasta

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy pasta dish, hatch green chilis, mushrooms, mushrooms and hatch green chilis, pasta, spicy, wild mushrooms

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lbs. mushrooms sliced or chopped (combination of cremini, oyster, or other mushrooms from a vendor)
• Olive oil
• 1 onion diced
• 3 cloves garlic minced or pressed through a garlic press
• ¼ cup diced and seeded roasted hatch green chilis about 2-3 you can use a can of chopped green chilis
• 1 lbs. Spaghetti or other long pasta
• 1/3 cup mezcal tequila, vermouth, or broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
• salt
• ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

Instructions

1. Have the Mushrooms, onions, garlic and hatch green chilis all prepped and ready.
2. Also have a plate or bowl available for keeping the cooked mushrooms in.
3. Place a large pot of water on the stove to heat to a boil. Have a large strainer ready and a heat proof measuring cup for some of the pasta water.
4. Heat a very large skillet over medium high heat, a 12-to-14-inch pan is fantastic, the larger the surface area the better.
5. Coat the bottom of the pan with olive oil and add only enough mushrooms to cover the bottom, you don’t want to over crowd the pan. Cook the mushrooms stirring occasionally until the mushrooms have released their moisture and they are just beginning to brown.
6. Remove the cooked mushrooms and place them in the reserved plate or bowl.
7. Continue cooking mushrooms in batches, adding more olive oil each time, until they are all cooked, setting aside the mushrooms until needed.
8. While you are cooking the mushrooms generously add salt to the water in the large pot, ad cook the pasta according to the directions to al dente. Make sure you reserve ¾ cup of the cooking water.
9. In the skillet add the onions and cook until they are translucent and just barley starting to brown.
10. Add the garlic and the diced chilis and sauté for one more minute.
11. Add the mezcal to deglaze the pan and scrape all the brown bits of goodness off the bottom.
12. Add back in the mushrooms, stir in the cream, the grated parmesan cheese, and ¾ cup of the pasta cooking water.
13. Reduce the heat to medium and let the mixture come to a boil and reduce the liquid by about half or until nicely thickened. This only take a few minutes.
14. Taste to see if it needs any salt.
15. By now the pasta will be cooked and drained, add the pasta to the skillet and toss to combine well.
16. Take off the heat and add half of the parsley.
17. Serve in big bowls sprinkled with a little more of the fresh parsley

Recipe Notes

To be decadent you could serve each bowl topped with a poached egg.