Pasta with Tomato and Dried Mushroom Sauce

Whenever someone can't think of anything to get me for a birthday or holiday, a good bet is to get me ingredients. Anything rather weird or unique will always be appreciated, or something with a backstory, or, hell, even a bag of flour.

My godmother Carole spends a great deal of time in Italy, and this holiday season she returned with a tin of dried wild Italian mushrooms for me. I have only recently fallen in love with mushrooms--my new conquest is olives-- and I started imagining what I could do with them the second I opened it. I wanted, I knew, to showcase the mushroom. There is a mushroom risotto I have been wanting to make for years, but it keeps getting bumped. I could have figured out a way to bake them into something.

But these were mushrooms Italiano! And, for that matter, a little bit wild. As I had just been home for Christmas, I was overcome with the urge to return these creatures to a sense of familiarity. And thus:

Pasta with Tomato and Dried Mushroom Sauce

I wanted this to me mushroom-y, but I was also set on showcasing Carole's mushrooms, and not adding in any strangers. I wanted to know what these were like-- they were so large and twisted and strange. I did a little day-dreaming, and came up with how I wanted to do it. A simple list of what you will need:

1 lb your choice of pasta (I went with Rigatoni, but Penne would be nice too)

28 oz whole (later cut by you) or diced tomatoes

1 large yellow or white onion, finely diced

3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped

(optional: one whole tomato)

1.5 cups of dried mushrooms

1/2 teaspoon or so Rosemary

2 teaspoons Thyme

small handful Basil

dash Parsley

salt + pepper

Romano Cheese and an excellent baguette to serve

(not pictured: dash of red wine)

The first step is begin boiling the water for the pasta. This could take awhile.

Meanwhile: start a small saucepan of about 2 cups of water to boil. Sort about one cup of whole large mushrooms into a tupperware container, and pour boiling water over them. Let them sit for 20-30 minutes, until tender.

Separate about half a cup of broken mushrooms/mushroom dust and set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a large pan and add diced onions until translucent and tender. Then add the garlic. Meanwhile: in a blender, pour liquid from the canned tomatoes, and about half or more of the tomato contents. Add the broken mushrooms, and liquify.

Once the garlic and onions are fragrant, add the mushroom-tomato combination. Stir until combined. Add what remains of the tomatoes in the can. (At this point I chose to add a fresh tomato). Allow to simmer for 3-5 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, drain the mushrooms (and reserve the liquid for a later use! Such as mushroom risotto!) Honestly, these sort of smell like a wet cat at this point. I took that as a good sign. Maybe mushrooms should stink, like cheese.

Add the now-tender mushrooms to the sauce.

Add the herbs, + salt and pepper.

When it begins to gently bubble, simmer for about 15-20 minutes, stirring often.

Once the pasta is done (al dente) get ready to serve! If you wish, at this point, to thin out the sauce, I suggest using the mushroom liquid.

Serve with grated cheese and excellent bread.

Buon Apetito!

(and I still have enough leftover to try them in something else!)