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!
I made this with gnocchi for my dad a few years ago when he was sick. He had only been eating custard for the prior week. He downed a huge bowl and went back for seconds. This recipe now holds a special place in my family’s heart since it was the last real meal he ate before he went back to custard and then passed on from Cancer.
My daughter loves this dish, and often requests it when she comes home to visit. I usually use onions instead of shallots, and that works fine. The last step requires a lot of stirring; have faith, and it will come together.
My sauce came out with a more watery texture. I would opt to not use the 3/4 cup of pasta water next time.
I made this delicious Creamy Mushroom Fontina Pasta recipe last night, and followed the instructions exactly, and my husband and I were speechless while we were eating it…..it was THAT amazing!
The fontina melted perfectly.
To slice all of the mushrooms, I simply used a “hard boiled egg cutter” and it worked like a charm.
This is now our very favorite pasta recipe. It is fabulous!!
I made this recipe last night and it was absolutely delicious. I had to use cavatapi (all I had on hand) but it worked just fine. This is going on my Tried and True Pinterest board!!
Hi, I’ve made this a couple times and the family loves it! However, I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. My sauce never seems to come out smooth and creamy. It always seems to be a little clumpy and sticks to everything. Not easy to wash off forks and dishes. I would love some suggestions and/or tips to help make is creamy.
Thank you
Hi Kathy, So awesome to hear your family has enjoyed this recipe! As for the clumpiness, it’s likely from the cheese. I would try cutting it smaller, or stirring until it’s melted, or thinning the sauce out with a little more pasta water if necessary.
Very tasty BUT fontina, like mozzarella, as has been noted, when it melts is sticky and stringy and doesn’t spread very well. This recipe would be improved by melting the cheese into a roux (flour and butter) first. That would cover the pasta as a sauce should instead of clumping.
This was ahh-mazing! A great quick meal. I used large fusilli and substituted the white wine with 50/50 apple cider vinegar and water and it came out great!!
Great stuff! I added some extra shallots and used raclette instead of fontina and it was delicious.
This may be the best thing I’ve ever tasted! Amazing. Thank you!
Hi, Michelle,
I made this last night, and it was amazing! Thanks so much for the great recipe! Nicki
BRAVO, Preparing this for my weekly dinner with daughter. Tested this last night, BRAVO!
This pasta dish was excellent! Thank you for sharing!!
Congratulatios on a superb pasta dish. Made this today. Outstanding! Thank you.
Thanks for a great recipe! We make it at least a couple times a month. I’ve found that, if you want to use ingredients more readily available in your pantry, rigatoni pasta and an Italian cheese blend work well in place of the mafalda pasta and fontina cheese.
I always said if I were stuck on a deserted island as long as I have pasta i will survive! This looks so good, I can’t wait to try it for Sunday dinner this weekend :)
Thanks so much for the recipe. I was in a foul mood when I got on the site. TV service disconnected – enough said. Anyway, so delighted to find this yumminess that my blood pressure has gone down and I am off to the grocery store to buy the ingredients and surprise my family. Who needs TV when there is good FOOD!
My husband and I ABSOLUTELY love this recipe. I made no changes. It’s perfect as it. Thanks so much for sharing,
Lynne, Cremini and Baby Bella are the same mushroom. You did good!!!!!
I had a package of baby bellas and some shallots to use up, so I went searching for a recipe with mushrooms and shallots, and found this. I didn’t have any parsley, but other than that an switching cremini to the baby bellas, no other changes. It was great, but texture was really weird – the cheese stayed all stringy and sticky. Still very good, but didn’t look like your pictures.
This is my and my husbands favorite week night meal! We make it every week! Sometimes I add some mild Italian sausage, and it puts it right over the edge for us! Thanks for the fabulous recipe!
Made this last night and we loved it! Thanks so much for the recipe!