Easy/Fast: Mushroom Sauce for Pasta

This has a rich mushroom-y taste, even just using button mushrooms, and, more importantly, cooks up in less time than it takes to cook your pasta.

Preparation time: 5 min
Cooking time: 10 min

• 4 Tbsp butter or alternate saute oil
• 16 oz whole mushrooms - separate the stems from the tops, chop the stems, slice the tops.
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (I use the jarred stuff, so you probably should reduce this if you use fresh)
• 1 cup cream
• 1/4 c grated Parmesan or similar
• Salt & Pepper & herbs to taste

Start your pasta water boiling and prep your produce.  Melt the butter in large skillet over med-high. When it is fragrant and bubbly, add onions, garlic, and mushroom stems.  Cook until soft (4-5 min), stirring occasionally.

At this point, my pasta water still hasn't usually boiled so I typically let the skillet continue to saute until it does.  After I add my pasta to the water pot, I add the mushroom caps, cream, cheese, and seasoning to taste (I sprinkle with salt and very generously with fresh ground pepper) to the skillet.  Allow to simmer over med to med-high heat until the mushroom caps have softened (about 5 min more), stirring occasionally, or until the pasta is cooked al dente.  I add the pasta to the sauce and toss before serving.