Pasta with Sautéed Mushrooms and Spinach

It's mushroom season!

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Autumn is the time for mushrooms. People in Italy who live near forests are madly foraging for fresh porcini mushrooms. Restaurant menus fill with mushrooms, as do the recipe pages of newspapers and magazines. It is poetic that these clever fungi take advantage of the decay and rain of autumn to produce these delightful treats. Mushrooms, technically the fruiting bodies of vast underground fungal networks, are a madly delicious ingredient for cooking.

I recently wanted to make a vegetarian lasagna for a Halloween bash. Zucchini and eggplant, my normal go-to ingredients for no-meat lasagna, were off the table because of some strong dislikes among some kids at the get-together. I figured mushrooms would be a good meat substitute because when deeply sautéed, they take on a flavor much like meat (the Maillard reaction).

I headed to one of the three H Mart grocery stores near our house. For those not familiar with it, H-Mart is a huge grocery chain selling a full range of groceries for Korean and other Asian cuisines. H-Mart is my first destination I need special mushrooms or other hard-to-find Asian ingredients. The prices are very favorable, also, compared to mainline grocery stores.

Eyeing some oyster mushrooms that the grocer was just stocking the shelves with at H-Mart, I asked if I could take a package out of the big box. He looked at me and said ‘Sure, but this other box is better’, handing me a giant crate of oyster mushrooms for $10. Thinking, “So, what am I going to do with all these mushrooms?” I took them anyway.

The vegetable lasagna was a big success but I was still left with half a flat of beautiful oyster mushrooms. I got thinking about the classic combo of mushrooms and cream. But I needed some green too, so enter spinach. This simple dish of deeply sautéed mushrooms with spinach, heavy cream, and cheese is fast to prepare and a great meatless meal. You could substitute different greens such as kale or chard and whatever fresh mushrooms you can get your hands on.

Buon appetito!

Joe 💕

Get the recipe on OurItalianTable.com!

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