pasta alla boscaiola

This time I had intended to follow Hazan to the letter, but alas, this recipe was only inspired by Hazan's Cavatappi alla Boscaiola on p.110-111 for a couple reason, the major of which was the lack of fresh mushrooms. The second was the mixture of wheat penne and rotini instead of cavatappi pasta.

As with many of the recipes, I halved the amount indicated by Hazan as there are only two of us and I generally prefer not to have left-overs. Aaron informed me 1oz is approximately 28g; not helpful as neither actually means much to me without a scale. As a consequence, in my opinion, more porcini could have been added. Although these mushrooms, especially when dried, are very aromatic (I could smell them throughout my kitchen and dinning area while they were being soaked-- not to mention when I actually cook them!!), their taste is relatively less apparent. So if one were unsure how much porcini to use (as I were), I would suggest adding a fewer more pieces just in cases. Of course, things may have been different if I had fresh mushrooms; this is supposed to be a pasta dish with wild mushrooms after all!!

It was because I didn't have the fresh cremini that prompted me to think about how the dish would have tasted if I did have fresh mushrooms or in fact another ingredient. I did thought about adding green capsicum (bell pepper) that was sitting in the crisper, but I just could not imagine the flavours marrying well. On the other hand, especially once I started eating the pasta, I could imagine diced browned chicken being a really good match.

Another ingredient I wasn't sure about was the canned tomatoes. Hazan mentioned on p.84 that "unless you can find fresh tomatoes as good as those of Campania it is best to use good quality canned ones". Although it is quite likely that the problem is inherent in the fact that the brand of canned tomato I bought was far from whoaing (it was Hunt's..), but in hindsight there are plenty of fresh tomatoes of different varieties available in California (albeit pricey), so perhaps I should have used fresh ones even if they are not from Capania..?

I think I will definitely try this dish again with some modifications. Hopefully, I will be able to blog my attempt again soon.. ;-)