Spinach and Mushroom Alfredo

Midterm week kept me pretty busy so I haven’t been able to update but now I’m on Spring Break! Continuing with my 40 day pescatarian diet, I decided to make some alfredo pasta. I normally don’t eat mushrooms, the texture kind of freaks me out, but I figured that they would go well with spinach in a pasta and I was right. This is probably the best pasta that I’ve made so far. Cheesy and creamy and extra delicious!

Luckily there was very little chopping involved, I only had to cut up garlic and onions. Here’s what I used:

• Spinach
• Baby Portabella mushrooms(bought these sliced from the store)
• 1 Onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 Tablespoon of flour
• 1 Tablespoon of butter
• Heavy cream(I don’t measure this, I pour enough until it looks right. Too much and your sauce will be insanely rich and almost inedible. Be cautious)
• Parmesean(mine was an asiago blend but plain parmesean works well)
• Black Pepper
• Some oregano

I started by making a roux which is how I do most sauces. That makes them a bit more thick and tasty as well, which works really well with alfredo sauce. The roux is just a combination of the butter and flour, stir it until the mixture turns tannish brown. After that I tossed in all of my veggies with a bit of olive oil and sauted them. I had never cooked mushrooms before since they kind of freak me out but I think they are cooked when they turn soft.

Once everything is nice and cooked, add in the heavy cream. Be careful not to add too much though! The sauce will be thin at first but once you add in the cheese it thickens up. I’ve learned not to add in all the cheese at once because if you put in a ton then your pasta turns into mac and cheese. It is still delicious but you don’t get that nice smooth sauce that you want. Simmer that a bit more and it is ready to pour over your pasta!

I’ve been using penne pasta a bunch recently but normally I stick to angel hair. Either one will work well with this. The pasta was delicious though! The asiago cheese gave it a nice kick and the mushrooms gave it some heft even though it didn’t have any meat in it. This was a great meal to share with my friends but they ate all of it so I had no leftovers! Next time I’ll be making extra.