Homemade tagliatelle with mushrooms, spinach and red-veined sorrel

Wild mushrooms and their earthy flavours are a forager’s delight, but it takes a trained eye – if in doubt, supermarkets and farmer’s markets sell countless varieties.

Homemade tagliatelle with mushrooms, spinach and red-veined sorrel

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the tagliatelle

• 400g ‘00’ flour
• 4 eggs
• 1tbspn olive oil

For the sauce

• 1 sliced red onion
• 200g roughly chopped mixed mushrooms
• 1 crushed clove garlic
• 200ml chicken stock
• 75ml sour cream
• 100g spinach
• 2 handfuls red-veined sorrel
• Fresh Parmesan

Method Weigh out the flour and sift it onto a work surface. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it with the olive oil. Rub in using your fingers and gradually incorporate the surrounding flour – don’t add salt or the pasta will be speckled. Bring the dough together and knead until smooth, then wrap it in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for half an hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge and flatten it with a rolling pin.

Run it through a pasta machine, starting with the widest setting and working your way down until you’re at the thinnest. Finally, put the sheets through the tagliatelle attachment. If you don’t have a pasta machine, roll the dough out until very thin, then roll it up and slice it into strips. Drape the tagliatelle over a tea towel-covered kitchen-cupboard door in a single layer until dry, but still soft. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a pan, then gently sauté the red onion until almost soft. Add the mushrooms and crushed garlic and fry for a further 5 minutes. Pour the stock and sour cream over them, toss in the spinach and mix well. Simmer gently.

Drop the pasta into the boiling salted water and cook for about 3–4 minutes. Once cooked, drain and add the pasta to the sauce, mixing in a handful of red-veined sorrel.

Divide the pasta between four plates and top with grated Parmesan and the remaining sorrel.

Serve immediately.

More ways with mushrooms

Super-seedy mushroom-and-spinach salad

Drizzle three large mushrooms with olive oil and grill for about 5 minutes. While they cook, toss together fresh spinach leaves, a couple of spoonfuls of chopped walnuts and 2 tablespoons of mixed seeds (such as pumpkin, sunflower and linseed) with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mix well. Put the mushrooms on plates, scatter with salt and pile the spinach salad on top. Serve with garlic-smeared sourdough bread.

Buckwheat soba-noodle, shiitake-mushroom and mango salad

Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add 250g of soba noodles. Simmer for 6 minutes, before running under cold water, using your hands to separate the strands. While the noodles cook, roughly chop 150g of shiitake mushrooms and fry in a little neutral oil until lightly browned. Stir the shiitakes through the cooked noodles with a diced mango, 1 red chilli, 2 chopped spring onions and a scattering of black sesame seeds. In a jam jar, shake together 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of mirin, 1 tablespoon of white-miso paste, 2 teaspoons of maple syrup and a splash of soy sauce. Pour the dressing over the noodles and serve.