A Billy Evening

Baked pappardelle with porcini
First posted 6 October 2011 - https://sites.google.com/site/foodieshare/

What billy no mates evenings were made for.

This is for one serving as it makes a billy no mates supper second to none. Thick ribbons of pasta coated in a rich buttery sauce with the flavour and aroma of the king of mushrooms 'Boletus edulis' or as we know it porcini, aka the cep. Not only is the finished dish superb the creation of it has great pace, a little soaking, a little saucing and a little baking. All of which means it is ideal to make while drinking the odd glass of wine, listening to some music and dipping into a couple of chapters of your favourite foodie book.

This version is more or less Simon Hopkinson's baked pappardelle with pancetta and porcini which featured as the very first dish on the fantastic cookery series 'The Good Cook', first shown on BBC1 in July 2011. I say more or less but really it's less, less the pancetta and less the number of pots and pans required. I like to think that’s a throw back to pre-dishwasher days or that I'm trying to be more green and save the planet but the truth is I'm reluctant to use more than one of those funny little blue and white blocks with the strange red ball embedded per day for financial reasons.

Time to make a start. Warm 300ml or so of milk. I use the milk with the highest fat content I have to hand and warm it in the microwave. When the milk has warmed through remove from the heat, plop in about 10g of dried porcini and give them a gentle stir to encourage them to sink into the milk and release any grit that may be trapped between the gills. Dried porcini sometimes have a little grit in them and we just want to dislodge this so that it drops to the bottom of the pan (more on this later – it's an obsession). Set aside and leave the mushrooms to rehydrate and flavour the milk with all that porcini-ness for at least 10 mins.

Pretty intense so far, time to chill down a little. Pull the cork or unscrew the cap from a decent bottle of glugable wine, pour some into the biggest wine glass you have and have a taste (just to check it's not corked or screwed). Stick something appropriate on whatever music machine you have and adjust the volume to something below neighbour annoying. Settle down to a couple of chapters from your favourite 'dippy' foodie book while having a Keith Floyd style slurp or two. A 'dippy' book is one that you can just pick up, open anywhere and enjoy.

Now for some more work – the sauce. This is a real sauce, none of your modern, mamby-pamby, 'lite' crème fraiche concoctions. Classic roux is equal parts 'fat' and flour although for this sauce I go a bit heavier on the 'fat' but it's your call. Heat around 20g of butter (a bit under half an inch sliced of a block will usually do it). Add the flour and stir over a low heat for about 3 to 4 mins to cook out, foamy is good but try not to colour the roux too much.

Carefully remove the mushrooms from the milk, trying not to disturb any of the grit that may have come out of them and sunk to the bottom of the pan. Keep to one side. Slowly add the porcini flavoured milk to the roux stirring or whisking as is your want till you have a smooth glossy sauce of a consistency that pleases. I like it just a touch looser than coating as it is going to be cooked for a few more minutes and baked in the oven later (don't forget to add the milk carefully so as not to disturb the afore mentioned grit and if you need a little more milk best to go to the fridge rather than use the last drop in the pan - I know I'm going on about the grit but it just isn't pleasant if it gets between the old dentures). Cook the sauce for another 10 mins or so. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Take your favourite tasting spoon and test. If you don't get a 'wow - best try another spoonful' moment you have either got it wrong big time or you are seriously unwell. Adjust the seasoning as necessary (I have, in times of weakness, even stirred in more butter at this stage). Add the porcini to the sauce.

Get the pasta going. Bring a kettle full of water to the boil and tip it into a decent sized pan. Add a good amount of salt and bring back to the boil before adding the pasta. Normally 75g is given as a suitable amount of pasta for a single serving but I find about 50g of pappardelle is ample for this dish. If you are using a different type of pasta or are feeling particularly piggy use a bit more. After a minute give the pan a stir to separate the pasta and liberate any bits from the bottom of the pan. Leave to cook at a fast boil.

Switch on the oven to preheat – about 190C for a fan assisted.

Quick chance for another chapter or two and a little more of the old grape but do keep an eye on the pasta as it doesn't want to be over cooked before it goes into the oven, although for me pasta always takes longer than it says on the packet. When the pasta is ready, drain and return to the pan. Add the sauce and porcini and give a gentle stir to coat the pasta and nuzzle the porcini in. Tip into a well buttered dish (dish tip - if the uncooked pasta takes up between two thirds and three quarters of the dish you are going to use you won't go far wrong). Push as much of the pasta below the level of the sauce as you can but don't get too stressed about it, a little crispy baked pasta doesn't make you a bad person. Cover with a thick sprinkling of parmesan. Check the oven is up to temperature and gently place the dish on the middle shelf.

Back to the book and wine for 30-40 mins until the sauce is bubbling and the parmesan is golden brown.

Remove from the oven, plate up, add more parmesan if you like, open a second bottle of wine and enjoy!