One-pot mushroom pasta with creamy tomato sauce
If you only have a single-burner stove to cook with in your campervan, this recipe will work a treat to feed your friends and family. It’s a one-pot wonder; perfect for a tiny kitchen and we love eating it in the fall when mushrooms are abundant. It’s creamy, hearty and wonderfully moreish – the epitome of comfort food. It’s the kind of dinner that our kids will often ask for thirds. You can skip the cream and parmesan if you want to make it vegan; just add a little extra stock at the end.
This is an edited extract from The Small Kitchen Cook by Ash Butler, which Fresh Off The Grid described as ‘Beautiful!”. Check out her tips for the most useful gear in campervan kitchens.
Serves: Four
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 1 hour
One-Pot Mushroom Pasta ingredients
Extra virgin olive oil
1 brown onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
A handful of parsley stems, finely chopped
Flakey sea salt
3 tablespoons of tomato paste
1/4 of a cup of dry white wine
15oz can of tomatoes
20oz of mushrooms, roughly chopped. I recommend Swiss brown or oyster
1 sprig of rosemary
1 sprig of oregano
2 cups vegetable stock or chicken broth (there are recipes for these in my book)
2 cups of water
12oz of short pasta
3.5oz of heavy cream
Handful of fresh parsley leaves
Parmesan, to serve
Cracked pepper
How to cook One-Pot Mushroom Pasta
In a medium or large pot, sauté the garlic, onion and parsley stems with a couple of glugs of olive oil and a few pinches of salt on medium heat.
When the onions and garlic are soft and fragrant, add the tomato paste. After a minute or so the tomato paste, garlic and onion will begin to caramelize on the bottom of the pan. Be sure to stir frequently to prevent it from burning.
After a few minutes, add the white wine to deglaze the pan, which will bring extra layers of flavor to the sauce by releasing the caramelized tomatoes, onions and garlic that are stuck to the bottom.
Next, add the canned tomatoes and give the sauce a good stir. Add the sliced mushrooms and sprigs of oregano and rosemary, followed by the stock. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes with the lid on while the mushrooms soften.
Meanwhile, bring two cups of water to the boil in your kettle or stovetop (or more if you feel like tea).
Once the mushrooms have softened, add the pasta and two cups of hot water from your kettle and turn the heat back up to medium. Place the lid back on and simmer for another 20 minutes, or until the pasta is almost al dente. Check the pot every few minutes and stir it to make sure nothing is sticking to the base of the pan.
When the pasta is nearly done, add the cream and cook for a further five minutes, stirring regularly as this is when it might stick to the base.
Remove from the heat and add the fresh parsley leaves. Serve seasoned with lots of parmesan cheese and cracked pepper.
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