Isn't it funny how different pasta shapes taste different and different stuffed pastas taste different, even though the ingredients are generally exactly the same? As a child I loved thin spaghetti and shells, and didn't like perciatelli (which we often had) or tortellini (which we never had) or mostaccioli (which is like penne but bigger; I like penne; see how picky?). Ravioli = always good, if it's cooked al dente. My grandma made it from scratch but hers was never my favorite, and I know now that she cooked it for several minutes longer than I preferred. Overcooked pasta, oh how I dread you! So close, and yet so far [from being edible]!
My mushroom sauce comes from my college roommate Ann and a time when we ate an almost entirely vegetarian diet, though you could easily add some pancetta to this, before cooking down the mushrooms, and it would be even more woodsy and mellow. As it is, there is a sweetness about this sauce, due to the honey, and you want really nice canned tomatoes here -- go for those ruby-red imported-from-Italy ones.
Mushroom Sauce
2 T. butter
2 large onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 c. mushrooms, sliced
1 t. oregano
1 t. basil
4 T. tomato paste
1 T. tamari or soy sauce
1 T. honey
1 large can (about 35 oz.) Roma tomatoesMelt butter in large saucepot or Dutch oven over low-medium heat, and saute onions for about 15-20 minutes, until very soft and beginning to caramelize. Add garlic, and cook for another minute. Add the mushrooms and saute (turn up heat a bit) for another 15 minutes until mushrooms are cooked down and most of the extra liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated. Add oregano, basil, tomato paste, tamari or soy sauce, and honey. Stir, then add the tomatoes, breaking them up with your hands or a wooden spoon. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, season to taste and serve, or cool the sauce a bit, and put into the refrigerator to reheat the next day.
Clover Meadow thanks you for your vote of confidence! I'm going to have her write the blog from now on because I can't seem to get caught up. When you see lots of food and dishes on this blog, you know that there has been Secret Crafting going on behind the scenes. In the last couple of weeks I've been racing around trying to make my deadlines — finished proposal #2 and FedExed that out on Thursday, finished one magazine submission for Christmas stuff on Sunday, and am working on another, due on Friday. My Tanglewood bags are delayed, but still happening, I swear! I have five made, and I was going to wait until I finished twelve, but I'm thinking I'll photograph the ones I've finished and make them available, then finish that pattern, and then do the rest of the seven. With magazines, you have to quick put down your thread and pick up their thread; things have to happen fast. Fast crafting is a challenge for me; at the end of a long, fast day, I cook to slow things down, and relax. I get asked a lot of questions about mags, and I will write a post about what I know about working with them sometime soon, if anyone is interested?
My heart truly goes out to everyone in the Midwest, especially those around our old stomping grounds — western Illinois and eastern Iowa along the Mississippi River, where Andy and I went to school. Thoughts and prayers.
I'm interested in hearing about working with the magazines.
What a cute photo of Clover Meadow "blogging" on the couch!
You're so lovely, Alicia. I just adore your blog.
Thank you for this delicious sounding recipe. It's now on my must-try shortlist.
Best always,
Amy
You're so lovely, Alicia. I just adore your blog.
Thank you for this delicious sounding recipe. It's now on my must-try shortlist.
Best always,
Amy
Thanks for sharing your recipe and pretty photos. I like your plans for stress free entertaining and you inspired me to get some people round when I thought I didn't have the energy for it.
Be really interesting to hear more about the magazine work - anything behind the scenes is always fascinating.
I'll have to try that, it looks delish. I have to make pasta soon - the MIL bought us a pasta machine for Xmas, and I KNOW the first thing she's going to ask when she gets here is "How do you like the pasta maker?" UHHHHH so much work!!! And P.S. yes, we're at the grocery store last night, and I'm like LET'S MAKE STUFFED SHELLS! and Aaron's like "Shells remind me of bugs, get mannicotti." Seriously?!@!!
Thank you for the recipe. I must get out of my pasta rut and try this!
Just found your blog and I am really enjoying it. Great sounding recipes, beautiful photos and fun and creative things. Thank you for sharing all of these things.
Karin
www.thestylesisters.blogspot.com
I can't be on board with the 'shrooms, but I hear you on the pasta shape thing! I don't like fettuccine or thick spaghetti, but love angel hair and penne. Ravioli? Absolutely yes, depending on the filling. (I even like Chef Boyardee (don't tell anyone).) Even knowing there are mushrooms in it, that top pic makes my mouth water!
Would love to read about working with magazines.
And mmmmmm, mushrooms!
I can't believe you're already submitting Christmas stuff for magazines. Please do tell us sometime which magazine it is so we can all run out and buy it later :) This "June-uary" northwest weather has propelled me to finish my crochet blanket inspired by the soft waves one you made a while back. It's my second one, ya know...although this is a large baby blanket for my niece. I need to keep going while I'm motivated or I'll hit the "slump"... I'm sure you know what I mean. :)
i'm interested, and anxious for your tanglewood bags, but will wait patiently.
I really wish my b/f liked mushrooms, I would use them more in our meals. Maybe I'll just make a big dish of this for myself and have lunch for a week!
I'm definitely interested in an entry on working with magazines. :)
Yes, the Midwest. Dreadful. I was talking to my young son about the last time I remember big flooding like this - I was in college, so maybe '91 or '92? - and he's having such a hard time picturing it. So awful.
Am glad that you think about Christmas crafting in June, too. Makes me feel less insane about the whole holiday planning thing. I've got lots of gifts started and a whole spreadsheet of what to make when and for whom. Lots of my loved ones live in old houses and they're receiving draft snakes from me this year, color coordinated to their decor.
Can't wait to see what you've come up with!
Any particular type of mushrooms? Cremini or just standard regular mushrooms? Will try this soom!
We are addicted to Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes. Love the fire roasted the best. They make vegetarian pasta sauces and mexican food have a wonderful depth of flavor.Yum!
Everything you cook or bake always looks so wonderful, whether in progress or the finished product. And so do your table settings.
I am definitely interested in hearing more about working for/with magazines/magazine editors/stylists, etc! But then I pretty much find everything you write and photograph to be interesting! Just yesterday, I was excited to find an extra copy of the Hallmark magazine you are in at a thrift store - now I can cut the article out and put it in my files or binders, and save my first issue intact! I'm one of those charter subscribers who has saved every single issue of Martha Stewart Living from day one - along with Victoria and Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, etc, etc!
I am looking forward to not only your book- but also any articles or features by or about you in upcoming magazines!
Thanks for sending your thoughts and prayers to folks here in the Midwest. Your blog is always such a comfort but even more so in these hard times.
I made the cherry dessert last night, only with blackberries frozen last summer. I just put them in the pan frozen, and then added the batter. Delicious!!
Dear Alicia,
I read your blog everyday and so appreciate all the beautiful photos of everything, your writing, and the yummy recipes, too! Thank you so much. I will be trying the mushroom sauce very soon. Kisses to Clover Meadow.
Best regards,
The Bishop's Wife
gloria
I'm seriously going to start keeping a bib on my computer desk when I come visit your blog!
YUMMMMM!!! :)
I've started saving your recipes otherwise I will never get round to making them, and they always sound so delicious.
Yes, please - I like to know the whole process about working with magazines. Were you already working on Christmas things or did they request a Christmas project?
i love it when you talk about food because you make it so not intimidating! but what you say still stretches me...to me that is a perfect combination, in a crafty food blogger & in a counselor & in a friend:)...do you do counseling?:)...ps i would love to know about magazine stuff! just to know...maybe for other reasons some day...but for now just to know...
All of my thought and prayers go out to all who were devestated by the floods and earthquakes that seem to be happening so much lately. I think Mother Earth is trying to tell us something. We're just not listening very well.
Can't wait to see the bags. And, yes, we would like to read anything you write about. Your inquiring readers want to know. :)
xxoo
Hi Alicia,
I would love to read about the process of working with magazines.
You make everything sound interesting.
Delilah