Linguine With Mushrooms Recipe uses two types of mushrooms that are sautéed in a homemade macadamia-sundried tomato sauce. The healthy sauce is made from scratch and emulsified with a combination of both butter and olive oil for a rich and creamy taste. This simple pasta can be customized with other veggies and the kids will love to have it in their lunch boxes for school!
One of my husband’s favorite food pairings is pasta and mushrooms. One of the things he loves about this pairing is that it is possible to combine different varieties of pasta with various types of mushrooms. I can also prepare them in unique ways so that their taste, texture, and flavor are diverse, which is a key theme in the types of dishes I explore and write about in my blog.
One of the most common recipes is the classic Linguine With Mushrooms recipe. It is traditionally made with a butter and white wine base and uses crème Fraiche to provide a thick creamy finish. But what happens when one does not consume alcohol or avoids the use of fattening creams? Should one give up on this classic?
Of course not! My own recipe is inspired by a small Italian café in Amsterdam, which was serving vegetarian and lactose-free alfredo pasta. They used nut-based sauce to create the illusion of an Alfredo sauce. But what inspired me was their use of a variety of mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini to create a complete and compelling meal.
When we returned home, my kids, who had tried this pasta, kept requesting it. And after several months of trial and error, I finally got a combination of pasta, mushrooms, and sauce that uses nuts and milk. I have experimented on my family and then with my friends for a many years now. This iteration of the Linguine With Mushrooms recipe is the one that I’m happy to share with you.
Types of pasta:
While there are several hundred varieties of pasta, there are two basic categories:
- Pasta Fresca (fresh pasta)
- Pasta Secca (dried pasta)
All pasta starts out as pasta fresca and where it is produced defines its usage. While northern Italy creates its pasta using all-purpose flour and eggs, southern Italy tends to use semolina and water. Pasta secca is traditionally made by slow drying the wet pasta in a copper mold outdoors for over two days. Having sampled this, believe me when I tell you that there is a profound difference in flavor between this traditional method and the modern steel mold and high-temperature drying method.
Once you get past that, pastas come in varying textures, thicknesses, and flavors. They can be tubular, strung, ribboned, flat, small, stuffed, or shaped. They can be made with yolk, pastes, tomatoes, spinach, and famously even out of squid ink which makes the pasta black. What these classifications and combinations mean is that one needs to be careful about pairing the sauces with the type of pasta, and it can mean months (if not years) of trial and error to get the right pairing.
What sauces go with the Linguine With Mushrooms?
But one common rule of thumb that has been passed down is that thick pastas should be paired with thick sauces and thin pastas with light sauces. Therefore, I chose linguine for this pairing. Now, to be fair, given that the mushroom sauce is thick, I should have used a fettucine, but to be honest, I find the linguine a perfectly acceptable, if not a healthier alternative.
Linguine is traditionally made with flour and water, whereas Fettucine is made from a heavier egg and flour mix. Although the linguine is a thinner noodle by comparison to the fettucine, it is flat and sturdy enough to support a mushroom sauce that is not over-rich and thus healthier. In addition, this recipe for the Linguine With Mushrooms balances both the flavor of the pasta with the sauce, while the fettucine will require a much thicker and richer sauce to get that same balance.
In this sense, with linguine, richness and taste are a function of the ingredients rather than the more obvious butter base that is traditional with a fettucine. Also, as the sauce tends to be less thick, I can add additional components to highlight different flavor profiles. One of my favorites is to use sundried tomatoes in the sauce so that there is an acidic element in the recipe for the Linguine With Mushrooms.
An alternative is to add creamed asparagus to a mushroom base accompanied by a hint of pesto or even add grilled prawns or lobsters. As you can see, the combinations are endless. While I do love the classic Italian linguine with butter and pesto, I enjoy the freedom that my recipe for the Linguine With Mushrooms provides to experiment with potentially endless flavors.
Frequently Asked Questions:
For how long should you cook mushrooms?
Mushrooms when not cooked properly can become rubbery due to overcooking or allowing them to steam in its own water. The fat or oil must be hot or shimmering before you add the sliced mushrooms to the pot. My Vegetarian Mushroom Stroganoff offers more information on how to cook mushrooms.
Which mushrooms are best when cooked with pasta?
A word on the choice of mushrooms. There are literally thousands of species of mushrooms. A recent study found that of these, there were only two thousand and six species that could be safely consumed. It is important to remember that while stores sell mushrooms in the plant section, they are, in fact, fungi and their DNA have more in common with us than plants. Here’s a table on the most common mushrooms that can be used to make the Linguine With Mushrooms. Remember that while many can be consumed raw, some like the morel need to be cooked to neutralize toxins.
| Name | Other Names | Flavor Profile |
| White | Button | Mild (absorbs flavors) |
| Cremini | · Italian Mushroom · Brown Mushroom · Baby Portobello · Baby Bella | Woody and Earthy |
| Portabella | · Portobello · Roman Mushroom · Field Mushroom · Cappellone | Woody and Earthy |
| Porcini | · Cepes · Bolete · King Bolete · Borowik · Polish Mushroom | Aromatic & Earthy |
| Morel | · Morchella | Earthy & Nutty |
Chanterelle | · Girolle Mushroom · Egg Mushroom · Golden Chanterelle · Yellow Chanterelle · Pfifferlinge | Peppery & Fruity Tastes of Apricots |
| Maitake | · Hen-of-the-Wood · Sheep Head Mushroom · Ram’s Head Mushroom · Dancing mushroom | Earthy & Peppery |
You’ll notice that I’ve not included truffles, which though expensive, is very tasty. That’s because a truffle is NOT a mushroom. They are edible spores that grow underground. Mushrooms grow above ground, but truffles grow underground.
As you can see, the varieties of sauces and mushrooms make for a recipe that is ripe for exploration. Each mushroom has its own flavor, so no two mushroom sauces are going to taste the same. That’s why I enjoyed making Linguine With Mushrooms so much. There’s so much scope for exploration. I hope you can use this recipe as a base for an opportunity to explore playfully and tastefully. From my pen to your table, Bon Appetit!
Ingredients:
- Garlic: White garlic or the more flavorful purple garlic if you can find it at your local farmers market.
- Butter and extra virgin olive oil: This combination of fats (based on my trials in many years) has never let me down.
- Macadamia: Feel free to substitute with walnuts or pine nuts.
- Sundried tomato: I used the ones soaked in olive oil, so I did not pre-soak the sundried tomatoes.
- Mushrooms: White buttons and cremini or you could substitute with portobello or any of the mushrooms from the table above in the blog post.
- Herbs: Dried or fresh oregano
- Spices: Chili flakes
- Linguine: Whole wheat linguine or any linguine
- Vegetables: You can customize the recipe for this Linguine With Mushrooms with other add-ons such as zucchini (courgette-UK), cherry tomatoes, and some onions.
How to make Linguine With Mushrooms using my recipe:
1.Cook the linguine per package instructions. (Reserve some of the pasta water for the sauce). Grind the macadamia nuts in a coffee/spice grinder and add the sundried tomatoes and milk and grind to a smooth paste.
2. Heat a Dutch oven with the butter and extra virgin olive oil. Add the crushed garlic and oregano and sauté for a few seconds. Add the sliced mushrooms. Sauté and stir occasionally until browned. Add the pasta water, macadamia-sundried tomato paste, chili flakes and the remaining milk and mix together. Cook until the sauce boils and turn off the heat.
3. Serve the mushroom sauce over cooked and drained linguine. Garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese and chili flakes.
- If you are using the dry pack of sundried tomatoes, then pre-soak in warm milk or warm water for easy grinding.
- Grind the nuts first before adding the sundried tomato and the milk to get a smooth paste.
- Cook the linguine al dente or at least 2 minutes less than the package instructions so that the pasta will not get overcooked when you add the sauce and briefly cook again.
- Cooking the pasta in lesser water will result in pasta water which is more concentrated with the starch, that will help with the sauce adhering to the Linguine With Mushrooms better in this recipe.
- Adjust the volume of milk by adding more milk to make a thinner sauce.
Serving suggestions:
Serve the Linguine With Mushrooms per my recipe with Parmesan cheese and chili flakes on top with a drizzle of chili-infused olive oil. You could serve this pasta with the following soup, bread or salad recipes:
- Minestrone Soup With Breadsticks
- Easy Caprese Salad Recipe
- Unique Bruschetta Recipes
- Garlic Focaccia Bread
Storage:
The sauce for the Linguine With Mushrooms can be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated for 4-5 days or made ahead and frozen for three months. Freshly cooked pasta may be added to the sauce and follow the instructions from the recipe card below.
Other pasta recipes that you might want to try:
Linguine With Mushrooms Recipe
Equipment
- Dutch oven or saucepan
Ingredients
For the sundried tomato-macadamia paste:
- 1 cup whole milk (for grinding)
- 1 cup whole milk for the pasta sauce
- 1 cup sundried tomato in olive oil, drained
- 1 cup macadamia
- 4 clove garlic crushed
- 1¼ tsp salt
For the pasta:
- 1 tbsp butter unsalted
- 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 tsp oregano dried
- ½ lb white button sliced
- ½ lb cremini sliced
- 1 tsp chili flake
- 1 lb linguine
- ¼ cup pasta water
- 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese shavings
- 1 tsp chili olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
- Cook the linguine per package instructions. Grind the macadamia nuts in a coffee/spice grinder and add the sundried tomatoes and milk and grind to a smooth paste.
- Heat a Dutch oven with the butter and extra virgin olive oil. Add the crushed garlic and oregano and sauté for a few seconds. Add the sliced mushrooms. Sauté by stirring occasionally until browned. Add the pasta water, macadamia-sundried tomato paste, chili flakes and the remaining milk and mix together. Cook until the sauce boils and turn off the heat.
- Serve the mushroom sauce over cooked and drained linguine. Garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese and chili flakes. Drizzle some olive oil infused with chili.
Notes
- While you drain the pasta, reserve some of the pasta water for the sauce. This helps with a creamier sauce that will coat the linguine.
Nutrition
This is absolutely delicious! Mushrooms go so well with this combination of ingredients!
Thank you very much and I am happy that you loved this dish!
This was absolutely delicious! I love the addition of macadamia nuts, very creative!
I am so glad you liked my recipe – thanks for the wonderful comment!