For Australian food enthusiasts seeking a restaurant-quality meal at home, this gourmet truffle and porcini tagliatelle with wild mushroom sauce offers an unforgettable culinary experience. This recipe transforms simple ingredients into a luxurious pasta dish, perfect for a special occasion or a sophisticated weekend project.
Crafting the Homemade Pasta
The foundation of this exquisite dish begins with handmade tagliatelle infused with rich, earthy flavours. The pasta dough starts with 300g of 00 flour, combined with 2 tablespoons of porcini powder and 1 teaspoon of fine sea salt. These dry ingredients are pulsed in a food processor before adding 2 whole eggs and enough extra egg yolks to bring the total egg weight to 185g.
Once a crumbly dough forms, it's kneaded on a lightly floured surface for approximately five minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. The dough then rests, covered, for 20 minutes to allow the gluten to relax. After resting, the dough is divided into eight portions and passed through a pasta machine, starting at the widest setting and progressively moving to thinner settings, dusting with flour between each roll.
The magic happens when half of the pasta sheets are sprinkled with thinly shaved fresh black truffle. The remaining sheets are placed on top, and the layered sheets are passed through the pasta machine once more to fuse them together. Finally, the sheets are cut into tagliatelle using a pasta cutter and left to dry for about 15 minutes before cooking.
Preparing the Wild Mushroom Cream Sauce
While the pasta rests, the deeply flavourful mushroom cream sauce comes together. The process begins by rehydrating 20g of dried porcini mushrooms in 160ml of boiling water for 20 minutes. The soaked mushrooms are then finely chopped, and their soaking liquid is reserved after being strained through a fine sieve.
In a large frying pan, 50g of unsalted butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil are heated over a medium flame. A finely chopped shallot and a crushed garlic clove are cooked until softened, filling the kitchen with an aromatic base. The chopped porcini and 100g of finely chopped fresh cremini mushrooms are added next, cooked until their moisture evaporates and they begin to caramelise.
The pan is deglazed with 60ml of dry white wine, which is allowed to reduce by half. The reserved mushroom liquid and 200ml of double cream are then added, and the sauce simmers for 10 to 15 minutes. The final touch to the sauce is stirring in 40g of finely grated parmesan before seasoning to taste.
Bringing the Dish Together
In a separate pan, 25g of butter is melted to sauté 200g of sliced mixed wild mushrooms until they are tender and seasoned perfectly.
To cook the pasta, a large saucepan of well-salted water is brought to a rolling boil. The fresh tagliatelle is cooked in batches for just 2 to 3 minutes until it reaches al dente perfection. It's crucial to reserve a ladle of the starchy pasta water before draining.
The cooked tagliatelle is tossed directly in the warm mushroom cream sauce, with the reserved pasta water added as needed to create a silky, emulsified sauce that clings to every strand. The dish is plated by dividing the sauced pasta among bowls, topping it with the sautéed wild mushrooms, and garnishing generously with more finely grated parmesan and additional fresh truffle.
This recipe demonstrates that with a bit of patience and quality ingredients, creating a luxurious, restaurant-worthy pasta dish at home is entirely achievable. The combination of homemade truffle-infused pasta and the rich, umami-packed wild mushroom sauce results in a truly spectacular meal that is sure to impress.
