Creamy Mushroom-Fontina Pasta
Growing up in an Italian family, I ate pasta no less than once a week. If my mom didn’t make any during the week, I was sure to get my fill at my grandma’s on Sundays. The thing about traditional Sunday dinners in my Italian family? Pasta was always, always, always served with red sauce. The only exception was a rigatoni, Italian sausage and green pepper pasta dish that my grandma used to make with an olive oil dressing. Even then, she still made a batch of “regular spaghetti” with red sauce… you know, just in case someone felt like eating that, as well. Italian grandmas, you truly have to love them.
Since I grew up on a strict red sauce diet, I’ve been doing some experimenting with other types of pasta dishes. I’ve found that I really love a simple, creamy sauce, wide pasta noodles and mushrooms. This dish is a compilation of all of those elements, and utterly fantastic.
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The sauce for this recipe is silky smooth and deliciously creamy, although it requires no actual cream. The secret? Using some of the liquid that the pasta was boiled in – it’s very starchy after boiling the pasta, and when paired with some butter, creates a perfect sauce with a creamy texture. For this dish, I also threw in some cubed fontina, which melts beautifully into the sauce. It’s creamy and has a mild flavor, which pairs really well with the cremini mushrooms. This just might be my new favorite pasta dish!
Are you from a red sauce or non-red sauce family? What are your favorite types of pasta?
One year ago: Jalapeño Cheddar Bagels
Two years ago: Salted Caramel Ice Cream
Creamy Mushroom-Fontina Pasta
Ingredients
- 10 ounces (283.5 g) dried wide pasta, I used mafalda
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, divided
- 20 ounces (566.99 g) cremini mushrooms, sliced
- ½ cup (5 g) finely chopped shallots, about 2 large shallots
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) dry white wine
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces (226.8 g) Fontina cheese, diced small
- ½ cup (30 g) chopped parsley
- Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta until al dente, according to the package directions. Drain and reserve ¾ cup of the cooking water.
- Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté half of the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, for 7 minutes; transfer to a plate. Repeat with 2 tablespoons butter and the remaining mushrooms, transferring them to the plate with the rest of the mushrooms.
- Add the shallots to skillet and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms back to the skillet, along with the wine; cook until the wine is reduced by half, about 3 minutes. Add the reserved cooking liquid and bring to a boil. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and season with 1 teaspoon salt.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the cooked pasta, cheese and parsley, tossing with the sauce until the pasta is coated and the cheese starts melting. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
We have pasta about 5 times a week in our house. We are an Italian family because my husband is from the north of Italy. They do more than just red sauce, so we actually use it only about once a week.
Ooooooh my! This looks amazing. Pasta is definitely a staple in our house. I adore fontina and mushrooms. What a great pairing!
I love Italian food. Pasta is so divers, you can alter it in countless ways. I’m making mushroom risotto tonight!
Is 8 ounces of cheese approx 1 cup? This looks so good! I’m getting ready to make it soon;)
Hi Sonya, Usually 8 ounces of cheese measures about 2 cups shredded; I didn’t measure it cubed up for this recipe.
Yum, pasta, mushrooms and cheese? yes please:)
All my favorites in one dish. Looks so yummy :)
My mom used to make something very similar to this when I was a kid, minus the fontina, which I think she had probably never ever experienced as an Idaho farm girl! I can almost smell how delicious this will be! Thank you!
This is my kind of dish!! I love Italian food (being Italian and all) and love red sauces just as much as the white or wine sauces. Fontina cheese is the best!
Thats my kind of pasta! YUM :)
Sounds and looks delicious. I also grew up in an Italian family. My dad told me (he would have been 93 this year) that when he was growing up my Nana would make he and his 6 siblings plain pasta every day, and on Sundays, they got red sauce. Thanks for the post. Brought back a wonderful memory!
This looks divine! I love fontina cheese in sandwiches but never thought to put it in pasta – I see it melts beautifully. This looks delicious!
Pasta in a creamy mushroom sauce it my absolute heaven. And with fontina cheese… DIVINE!
I love pasta of any shape or size. As a kid, spaghetti with just some grated parmesean was a favorite and staple of my diet. To this day, it’s my “go to”. But I’ve discovered a delicious lemon olive oil from a local vendor (Sierra de Oro) that pairs perfectly with my pasta and parm.
I’m not Italian, but I sure do love pasta. I adore fresh ravioli and tortellini, and every shape there is. I love red sauce with Italian sausage, pesto, and sauces like this. This looks so creamy and delicious, and with all those mushrooms? Yum!
I live in Milwaukee and for us (unless someone actually is of Italian descent), the sauce is irrelevant. What’s important is that the pasta be cooked all the way. To us, al dente is still raw and considered “not done yet”. I KNOW al dente is the correct way to cook dry pasta, but even at 35, it’s still hard for me to get over the idea that I’m eating “raw” pasta.
Ohhhhh – this looks divine! Will definitely be pinning this one! :)
I’m coming over for dinner!
I love everything in this bowl. Swoon!
We had a ton of red sauce growing up too, but I really have come to love other sauces just as much, if not more. This one sounds awesome, especially with the mushrooms and fontina – yum :)
Looks delicious! I love mushrooms!
I came from a strick ‘red sauce’ family: they don’t even eat vodka sauce because of the touch of cream. But I’m the rebel among the first generation Americans: I’ll eat pasta any which way. I’m definitely making this mushroom and fontina pasta this week, possibly tonight!! Thanks.
I am sooooo into this! Yum!
This looks absolutely fantastic! However I live in Australia so we don’t have a large selection of cheese available at our supermarkets – what would you recommend as a substitute?
Hi Brianna, You could use any soft cheese that you like; totally personal preference depending on flavor. The original recipe called for taleggio or brie; you could also use mozzarella. Truly, though, anything soft that you enjoy would be fine to use here.
drool worthy! any other substitution for fontina. soft cheese like…..? does mozzarella becomes stringy? thanks
This recipe looks awesome, Michelle, and I am definitely planning on trying it. Mafalda was one of my Dad’s favorite pasta noodles. I, too, grew up in an Italian household, where pasta was served every single Sunday without fail.
Thank you! I’ve been looking for a good creamy but cream-less (my mom is pretty lactose-intolerant) pasta sauce and this sounds delicious
I love mushrooms in pasta, this looks fab!
That looks delicious!
Oh my goodness, this looks incredible! I love that you used mafalda.
I absolutely love fontina cheese! Great pictures too!
Ok, italian families are the best! I could eat pasta everyday! This pasta look so good! I love the noodles you chose and the mushrooms sound awesome in this!! YUMMMM!