I cooked: Mushroom pasta with truffle oil (Vegetarian)

Truffles are one of those luxurious items which we like indulging in once in a while. We love the truffle butter from Cilantro as well as the truffle shavings that we sometimes get with lunch at Sage. 

We recently acquired some summer truffles as well as truffle oil for our home. Sadly, the summer truffles were pretty lousy (bleh!) but the truffle oil on the other hand has become one of our new best friends, especially when making pasta or eggs. 

A dash of truffle oil lifts an otherwise ordinary mushroom pasta into something pretty delicious. It's perfect for evenings when you're feeling very lazy, as it literally takes less than 15 minutes to cook and prepare. Use a good extra virgin olive oil for this as it will make a difference to the end product. It's also perfect for vegetarians. 

We like using grey oyster mushrooms for this dish, but you can experiment and use other mushrooms like white button mushrooms, buna-shimeji, or white oyster mushrooms (I prefer grey over white). You could also top the pasta with a poached egg or soft boiled egg (instructions below) for a more creamy finish.

Mushroom spaghetti with truffle oil

Mushroom pasta with truffle oil 
Preparation time: 2-3 minutes
Cooking time: 10-12 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
200g pasta (I prefer to use spaghetti or angel hair pasta)
100g grey oyster mushrooms, sliced thinly
A handful of cep mushrooms, soaked and chopped roughly (optional)
2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Fresh parsley, finely chopped
Truffle oil
Egg (optional)

1. Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta according to pack instructions (al dente should take about 8-10 minutes). Remove from heat and drain, run under cold water to stop from cooking further.

2. Heat olive oil in frying pan on medium high heat. Add garlic and cook for 2 minutes until golden brown, then add the mushrooms and fry for 1-2 minutes until cooked.

3. Finally add the pasta, parsley and mix thoroughly, and then season with salt and pepper.

4. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Add a dash of truffle oil to finish.

Pasta funghi con olio di tartufo

5. If you want to add a soft boiled egg to your mushroom pasta dish, then cook the egg first before you start cooking your pasta. Firstly, put 450ml of water into a 18cm saucepan and bring to the boil. When water is boiling, remove from heat and place egg into the water. Using a cloth/dishtowel, tilt the pan slightly so that the egg is submerged 75% in the water. Cook for 12 minutes - perfect runny eggs everytime!

6.While waiting for the eggs to cook, you can cook your pasta as above instructions. Top the egg on pasta and serve immediately. The runny egg gives the pasta a lovely creamy finish.

For desserts, if you fancy something sweet, rice pudding with vanilla ice-cream does the trick...

Or else, Baby D recommends the Emmental cheese for a savoury/spicy end. 

Full set of photos available to view here.

*This post was featured on DineMalaysia.com on 26 July 2012.