I know, I know – today is the 27th and Valentine’s Day has been here and gone – but for today I still like to share with you one of my family’s favourite pasta dishes ( and like most this too comes attached with very fond memories of our many many visits to Italy).
No doubt each and everyone of you who has grownup ‘children’ or grand-children received the occasional (and often slightly frantic) telephone call requesting help with a certain recipe for a lunch or dinner in an hours’ time.
And just this did happen to me again exactly 14 days ago.
Our eldest daughter Bianca and her flat mate had decided in the last minute to throw a small impromptu Valentines Day Party for some of their friends. And since both girls were working long hours there was of course not much time left to do shopping, cooking, decorating their flat etc. So Bianca requested the recipe of a quite simple, but delicious, dish she occasionally likes me to cook for her when she comes home to Cochin.
Not only is this one of her (many!) favourite pasta dishes (see above), but by chance she had most of the ingredients already in her own kitchen, which made it of course so much easier for her and took hardly any time to prepare after work. So off I went to visit my computer and quickly send her the recipe with minute step-by-step instructions……..and her end result is shown in her own ‘whatsup’ picture.
And the next day a short message arrived back with me “Success!!! Thank you”
Her friends now got hooked on ‘pasta the Italian way’ and I will have to find the time to send some more recipes off to Bangalore.
And since by chance I too had all the ingredients in my kitchen, I decided to make the very same dish for JS – my own Valentine – and for myself. You may want to go back and also look at my Valentine’s Recipe for 2016.
So today I like to share this recipe with you – it is not only for Valentine’s Day but for any day when you just want to enjoy a nice little Italy inspired meal.
Creamy Mushroom Sauce over a mountain of spaghetti
1. Spaghetti – enough for 2 people –
2. 1 x box of Champignons (button mushrooms) just wiped clean, but NEVER washed. Sliced and kept aside.
3. A handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in halve
4. 3-4 x cloves of garlic, finely chopped
5. Good helping of fresh parsley and thyme
6. ¾ pack of either Coconut milk or cream (I used Coconut milk today)
7. Salt and pepper to taste
8. 2 tsp of Vegetable Oil ( I am rather mean on oil for health reason)
The ‘cooking’ is so easy and only takes 15 minutes – so ideal for some of us busy people.
Take a large frying pan, add oil and on medium heat sauté your garlic briefly. Add sliced champignons, stir and continue to cook for a few more minutes.
Now add your personal choice of either coconut milk or cream to this, stir again and check your seasoning, add salt and pepper, most of the chopped parsley and thyme. In the last minute add the baby tomatoes.
Spaghetti should be ready by now, just take them out of their cooking pot with a spaghetti spoon and add to the sauce in the pan.
Gently mix everything together, sprinkle the remaining parsley over the finished dish and serve – either directly on individual plates or into a large dish or onto a big platter (whatever!)
Now just sit down and enjoy this pasta with a beautiful chilled white wine and the company of your nearest-and-dearest…. Whoever that may be.
That’s it – all done – enjoy and Guten Appetit.
Namaskaram
Carina
Anyone 4 Curry & Other Things 
Better late than never and that does look beautiful 🙂
MD, you refer to my blogging of course 😃 have been rather busy with personal matters.
It’s nice to read the post regardless 🙂
Hope you & your valentine had a great day, Carina
Yes we did, Dallas 😆
This is my favorite way to make pasta too! 😊 😊
You reminded me that every day should be Valentine’s Day. Hugs!
Confession, I could happily live on good pasta!!! 😉
Oops, this was meant for CHCooks
Rebecca, I so very much agree with you. I hate shops telling me when and what I “have to” celebrate. We celebrate life, love etc whenever we feel like it. Hugs coming your way too.
Great looking pasta dish … both versions. 🙂
Thank you so much and I will pass on your compliment to Bianca.😉
Delicious! I love pasta…
Isn’t it obvious – so do I.
The pasta looks delicious – Bianca’s photo just beautiful . . . . well done, dear parents 🙂 !
Thank you, dear Eha and yes this dish also tastes too good 😀 and compliments are being passed on to her.
Pasta is always a favourite meal of mine – and this looks delicious. How interesting to use coconut milk in the sauce. Yum!
You have a gorgeous daughter with good taste.
Danke danke, liebe Gerlinde. I agree with you she is gorgeous and has good taste – not only re food.
Sounds wonderfully simple ! And looks yummy. Never tried coconut milk with spaghetti . Must try.
Jaya, you really must. It is a simple fast little fusion dish with little ingredients but full of flavour, and using coconut milk in the sauce gives it that extra Kerala richness 😊😊😊
That sounds delicious! And the recipe is easy enough that I think even I could pull it off!
Ann 😀 yes, I assure you even you can make it but most importantly enjoy!!!
Carina, this is a lovely dish and some excellent sentiments shine through. I guess when you are in love, every day is Valentine’s Day.
Best,
Conor
Very perceptive Conor 😊 and thanks for the compliment.
The thought of creamy mushroom sauce got me right away! The whole meal looks perfect, especially as I have a vegetarian husband. I like both coconut milk or cream, so I’ll have to try the dish twice, just to decide which I like best in this sauce! The meal your daughter cooked also looked delicious – and what a lovely photograph of her. I’m glad her Valentine’s party was successful. 😀
Thank you Millie. I too use either milk/cream, whatever is available – mostly it’s coconut milk of course (after all Kerala is the land of Coconuts) so try out what suits you. Spaghetti is our personal favourite. Good luck😊
This looks good. Why though do you recommend not to wash the mushrooms? Sometimes there is dirt that would be easier to wash off.
Thanks for visiting me again, Karina and yes washing them would be faster BUT they so hate water and so get slimy. Learnt from top Chefs, just take a slightly damp paper towel or any other and wipe some of the “dirt” off. (It is mainly bits if their compost). Trust me, I learnt the hard way 😉😉😉
Thanks! I learn something new all the time with cooking.
Thank you all for your lovely compliments, hopefully you will see more cooking experiments from me in the future. And Carinaa….I love this post! So beautifully shot and written. Thanks to you for this lovely recipe and for saving my day!! 🙂 :* ❤
Thank you, my Darling – I am just glad I was able to be of help😋😋😋 and yes, let’s do another session again soon. Have a recipe you and my readers might like. 😙
I love mushrooms. This looks delicious.
Thank you Jeff.
Quick, tasty and Italian, Carina. What more could I want? I have the glass of white ready. 🙂
Jo, please have at least 2 glasses of beautifully chilled wine ready – I “bring” the pasta 😉
This would make anyone’s favorite Valentine happy whether it was served on Valentine’s Day or any day.
Thank you, Karen for visiting my kitchen. I agree with you any day and every day should be a sort of Valentines Day 😉😉😉
Oh my gosh, your daughter is gorgeous – just look at that sparkle in her eyes & great smile! She won’t be singe long if you keep teaching her dishes like this. I can’t wait to make it and am pinning. I never would have thought to use coconut milk! 🙂
thank you for the great compliment. Actually what everybody noticed when she was born were her eyes!!! And btw., living in the land of coconuts……we are using them a lot! Delicious 🙂
Liebe Grüße und eine gute Woche wünsche ich dir lieber Gruß und Umarmung Gislinde
Das Gleiche fuer Dich liebe Gisel. Ich hoffe es geht Dir wieder besser. Alles Liebe, Carina
Excellent recipe. Looks delish! I’ve followed you as your page is very inspiring. I hope you do the same, as you may find mine the same, I practice naked cooking like jamie oliver, I’m conducting the half-blood princess project.
Beautiful version of pasta!! Brilliant.
thank you Sumith, one of our family favourites.