We love mushrooms and when we find good ones at our favorite grocery store or the Farmers’ Market, we tend to get several varieties. We also like to grow them inside, but that’s another story! Here is a rich and delicious pasta dish that is great with most varieties of mushrooms! This Marsala Mushroom Casarecce Pasta is packed full of rich mushroom flavor and is perfect with your favorite mushrooms!

What type of mushroom should I use?

We have tried this dish with a variety of mushrooms, from cremini to oyster mushrooms, and they are all VERY good here. But, when it comes to mushrooms, we absolutely love Chestnut mushrooms and buy them whenever we can find them (although they are not easy for us to find).

Chestnut mushrooms are one of our current favorites, with their great flavor and texture. They have stems that retain some nice texture that is sort of like asparagus, and the flavor is less earthy than most mushrooms with a nice sweetness. So, when we find them, we use them in this dish. We have even grown them at home using spray and grow kits, like this one.

Why Marsala and Tarragon Work So Well with the Mushrooms

Marsala is great to use alongside mushrooms as it has a complex flavor with a hint of sweetness that helps boost the natural earthy flavor of the mushrooms. The other favorite pairing with mushrooms for us is tarragon. These two flavors really are special together and when you add the freshness of parsley, you get a great melding of flavors for this pasta dish!

As usual, the quality of the stock you use will have a lot to do with the flavor, since it is being reduced and the flavors will concentrate.

Casarecce Pasta

Casarecce is a shorter twisted noodle that originally comes from Sicily. We love the mouthfeel of this pasta and is holds sauce inside the twists for deliciousness with every bite. We used homemade casarecce pasta, but we realize that most of you do not have a pasta extruder. Casarecce is fairly common in most grocery stores so you should be able to find it.

A good substitute for casarecce in this pasta dish would be fusilli or a broad flat noodle such as pappardelle. Any pasta shape with as much texture or folds as you can find to capture the sauce will work here, so use whichever you like best.

Enjoy!

We hope you enjoy this recipe for Marsala Mushroom Casarecce Pasta. If you give it a try, leave us a comment below or tag us on Instagram @cooking_with_wine!

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Marsala Mushroom Casarecce Pasta

Course: DinnerCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Total time

minutes

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Ingredients

For the Marsala Mushrooms
7 tablespoon 7 unsalted butter, divided
1 large 1 shallot, minced or finely chopped
14 oz 14 fresh chestnut mushrooms
2 teaspoon 2 kosher salt, divided
Pinch black pepper
½ cup marsala
1 1 ½ cup beef stock (or 50% diluted demi-glace)
1 tablespoon 1 finely chopped tarragon
1 tablespoon 1 finely chopped Italian parsley
2 teaspoon 2 lemon juice, divided
For the Pasta
1 lb. 1 casarecce pasta, or pasta of your choice
Garnish
Finely chopped fresh Italian parsley
Freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino

Directions

Prepare the Mushrooms
In a large skillet, heat 4 tablespoon of the butter over medium heat until melted. Add the shallot and cook until the shallot is translucent. Add the mushrooms, 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper. Cook for a minute, stirring. The mushrooms will soak up most of the moisture. Cover the mushrooms and continue to cook on medium, stirring occasionally, until tender – about 5 minutes.
Once tender, uncover, turn the heat up to medium high for one minute. Add the marsala and cook for just 2 minutes. Add the stock, tarragon, parsley, the other 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of the lemon juice. Turn the heat to high and bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce to medium to medium-low and simmer for 25 minutes. The mixture should have thickened somewhat and reduced at this point.
Once reduced, remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 3 tablespoon of butter 1 at a time and add the last teaspoon of lemon juice. Taste for salt and add if desired.
Prepare the Pasta
In a large pot of boiling, salted water, add the pasta and cook until al-dente. Strain the pasta, reserving ½ cup of the water. In a large bowl, toss the pasta with the mushrooms and use pasta water to thin if necessary. Serve.