Creamy mushroom pasta bake

A simple favourite with both the King and Myers families, this is always tasty and always well received. Porcini powder is quite widely available now, but you can make your own by blitzing five grams of dried mushrooms to a powder.

This dish is one of our family favourites: creamy pasta bake with mushrooms, spinach, and cheese in a rectangular dish, served with a silver spoon.

Creamy mushroom pasta bake | 📸 Andrew Hayes-Watkins

Info

Serves
4 people
Prep time
Less than 10 minutes
Cooking time
Under 1 hour

Ingredients

  • 300g short-form pasta
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 400g mixed mushrooms, such as button and chestnut, thickly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • Leaves from a large thyme sprig
  • Zest of ½ lemon
  • 1 tsp porcini powder (optional)
  • 100ml white wine
  • 250g mascarpone cheese
  • 100g baby leaf spinach
  • 50g Parmesan, finely grated
  • 200g Taleggio cheese
  • Truffle oil (optional)
  • Salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water. Set aside 200 millilitres of the cooking water, then drain the pasta. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6.

  2. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan and add the onion. Fry until translucent and lightly coloured, then add the mushrooms. Fry them over a high heat until browned – if they give out any liquid, continue to cook until they are dry.

  3. Stir in the garlic and cook for a minute, then add the thyme leaves, lemon zest and porcini powder, if using. Season with salt and black pepper and stir to combine.

  4. Pour in the white wine. Bring to the boil and let it reduce down, then stir in the mascarpone. When it has melted into a sauce, add the reserved cooking water, a little at a time, until you have a sauce the consistency of single cream. Add the spinach, pushing it into the sauce until it has completely wilted down, then add half the Parmesan and the pasta. Stir again to combine.

  5. Transfer everything to an ovenproof dish. Cut the Taleggio into slices and arrange them over the pasta. Top with the rest of the Parmesan.

  6. Bake in the oven until the cheese has started to bubble and brown around the edges. For an extra touch of luxury, add a drizzle of truffle oil, if you have some, before serving.