Autumn is here. Leaves need raking and barrowing to the mulching cage. Seasoned wood is emptied from logstores and brought inside for the fire. We give the vegetable patch a tidy: soggy, frost-hit nasturtiums and withered courgette stems are cleared, brassicas are checked for covert caterpillars and winter salad crops are thinned. There is a hotchpotch of apples to press and pears to harvest by the basketful. Wild mushrooms are also ready to gather, so to the woodland we go.
Wild mushroom and black kale tagliatelle
Join Kathy Bishop and Tom Crowford with this hearty autumn recipe from their West Country smallholding
Published: September 22, 2020 at 9:14 pm
Ingredients
- 1tbsp Butter
- 200g Chanterelle mushrooms
- 1 Garlic clove, minced
- 10 Sage leaves, finely chopped
- 250g Fresh tagliatelle
- 150g Black kale (cavolo nero) tough stalks removed and thinly shredded lengthways into strips
- 100g Mascarpone cheese
- 50g Parmesan cheese grated, plus extra for serving
Method
Step 1
Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the mushrooms and fry over a medium-high heat for a few minutes. Add the garlic and sage, and season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking until any liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are golden brown. Keep warm until ready to serve.
Step 2
Meanwhile, boil a saucepan of salted water. Add the tagliatelle and kale and cook for five minutes, until the pasta is al dente and the kale is tender. Drain and reserve a cupful of the cooking water.
Step 3
Put the mascarpone in the empty saucepan along with 100ml of the pasta cooking water and warm over a gentle heat. Once the mascarpone has melted, stir in the grated Parmesan. Loosen the mixture with a little more cooking water (if needed) to turn it into a silky sauce, the consistency of single cream. Return the tagliatelle and kale to the pan and toss with the sauce.
Step 4
To serve, divide the kale pasta between two plates and tumble the mushrooms on top. Finish with extra Parmesan and lots of black pepper.
*A good mushroom guidebook will show you how to identify these safely; alternatively, small chestnut mushrooms can be used instead.
The Seasonal Table
Kathy and Tom combine running their Somerset smallholding with full-time jobs, and also find time to write a blog called The Seasonal Table – a journal of slow food and slow living.
Find out more about The Seaonal Table:
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Louise Hagger
