A pasta with mushrooms and so much more. Have you ever made boscaiola pasta? It’s an quick recipe that’s easy to make – perfect for autumn with freshly picked mushrooms. Besides, there’s more than one way to make la boscaiola. With so many variations on a single recipe, anyone can find a version they like: While some like it with red sauce and others with cream, some prefer to add peas, sausage or even bacon. You can also switch up the pasta style, from short varieties to long egg pasta. To start, we’ve got three options to choose from.
With red sauce
If you love tomato sauce, make the red version of boscaiola pasta, which is, in theory, the original recipe. Just fry some chopped onion with extra-virgin olive oil and then add some sausage (casing removed) or smoked bacon (which goes better with porcini mushrooms). Let brown then add white wine to cover, followed by either cherry tomatoes or mashed tomatoes. Let the sauce cook for 10-15 minutes over medium-low heat. Then drain the pasta (we recommend pennette or tagliatelle), and sauté it in the sauce. Serve with fresh parsley and grated parmesan cheese if desired.
With peas
But does the original recipe call for peas? Well, like we said – since a real recipe doesn’t exist, using peas (either with a red or white sauce) is fine! Simply add them to the fried onion with mushrooms and bacon. Blend them with a little white wine and continue cooking until the sauce is ready. You can add them to the sauce (or not) and you can also skip the bacon and sausage for a vegetarian version. If you use frozen peas, make sure to remove them from the freezer early on.
With cream
True gourmets love the creamy version of la boscaiola, but just know that in this case, the taste of all the ingredients will be more delicate with the addition of the cream, which adds a hint of sweetness. We suggest using fresh cream for this recipe, however. It should be added at the end, when the seasoning is ready. Or it can be added together with the freshly drained pasta to tie all the ingredients together.