Who needs a cream sauce today? Me? You? Us? Everyone? You in the back?
Talk about something you can whip up within a half hour! That’s our game today. Comfort meets speedy. Earthy meets fresh. Saucy meets carbs. We’re in.
I grabbed some simple baby bellas, but if you need fancy, any gourmet mushroom works. Remove the stems and slice ’em up!
We’ll sauté in butter until they start to really brown up in places. Take them a little further than what you might normally do. We want them almost seared. That’s where the magic is.
In the meantime you’ll cook some mushroom tortellini in a pot of boiling water and make a very simple cream sauce. Start with your roux, whisk in your milk, season with salt. Dunzo. And look.
Gawgeous. We’ll transfer the tortellini right into our cream sauce and top with the mushrooms. Add a lot of fresh parmesan, a squeeze of lemon if you have it, a few cracks of black pepper and a pinch of malden salt to finish. And mint! Or parsley. Whatever garnish you have – mince it and violently throw it on. It’s too good.
Simple enough for a last-minute dinner, yet so flavorful and creamy that you’ll need to prepare yourself. It’s rustic and filling, yet delicate and toothy. A win, if you ask me.
Add it to your menu stat!
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Ingredients
- 1 pound mushroom tortellini
- 8 oz baby Bella mushrooms, stemmed and caps thinly sliced
- 4 Tbs. Butter, divided
- 2 Tbs. Flour
- 2 cups milk
- Mint or parsley for garnish
- Coarse salt
- Freshly grated parmesan
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the tortellini and cook until just shy of al dente, according to package directions.
- Heat 2 Tbs butter in a wide skillet over medium high heat. Once foaming, add the mushrooms. They’ll soak up the butter immediately, then slowly release their own juices after 30 seconds. Season with a pinch of salt and let this sauté about six minutes, until nicely browned all over. Remove from the pan and set aside while we make our sauce.
- Add the remaining butter; let melt and foam. Add the flour and begin whisking, so that it combines and becomes a crumbly mix, then a paste. Slowly whisk in the milk over a low heat and let it bubble up and create a nice sauce. After two cups of milk, you should have a creamy sauce, not too thick, not too thin. Taste it and add a good pinch of salt to season. Add a little bit of pasta water to thin if needed.
- Transfer the tortellini into the cream to cook one more minute. Off the heat, add the mushrooms back, along with a good handful of freshly grated parmesan and parsley or mint. Whatever you have! Season with salt if needed, and serve immediately.
- Serves four!
More cheese and lemon? Yep, yeppers, yeah.
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