There is no cream reduction here, just a roux built in the same pan as the mushrooms and thinned with cream. The cheese slice goes in off the heat, which is what keeps the sauce glossy rather than grainy. Salt the pasta water properly, since the sauce itself is barely seasoned.
Italian · Main
Creamy Mushroom Pasta With a Two-Minute Pan Sauce
Mushrooms and onion browned in butter, a quick flour roux, cream and a slice of cheese. The sauce comes together while the pasta boils.
- Prep10 min
- Cook20 min
- Serves2
- LevelEasy
Ingredients
| 60 g | spaghetti |
| 12 g | butter |
| 1 tbsp | plain flour |
| 6 to 8 | button mushrooms , sliced |
| 60 ml | double cream |
| 1 slice | processed cheese |
| 1 small | onion , diced |
| 1 tsp | salt , for the pasta water |
| 1/2 tsp | pepper salt |
Method
- Boil the spaghetti in well-salted water for about 13 minutes, until just past al dente, and keep a cup of the water.
- Melt half the butter in a hot pan and fry the mushrooms and onion until they colour and the moisture has gone.
- Season with the pepper salt, tip them out and set aside.
- Melt the remaining butter in the same pan, add the flour and stir over low heat until it turns pale gold. Take the pan off the heat if it starts to catch.
- Return the mushrooms and onion to the pan, pour in the cream and bring it back to a simmer.
- Take the pan off the heat, add the cheese slice and stir until it melts, then loosen with pasta water until the sauce coats a spoon.
- Toss the drained pasta through the sauce and serve at once.
Notes
- The roux must be cooked but not browned, or the sauce turns beige and tastes of flour.
- The mushroom half is good on its own with bread; the recipe makes more than the pasta needs.
Ratios and technique checked against 奔赴美 on Douguo (奶油意大利面). The method here is written by Stellaok and the illustration is ours; no text or photograph from the source is reproduced.