Quick Gourmet Fix: Spaghetti with Soppressata and Shittake

 

With Christmas behind us, many of us may be feeling the need to take some time off from cooking, while at the same time yearning something tasty and delicious. That's the position we found ourselves in this week. After making some delicious bolognese and lasagna al forno for Christmas and Christmas eve, we were a bit burnt out.

We came up with this recipe, a twist on Spaghetti alla Amatriciana, which takes all of 15 minutes to prepare, but is tasty, savory, slightly complex, and super delicious. Instead of red onions, like one would find in the Amatriciana, we substituted shittake mushrooms. And instead of pancetta or bacon, we used a spicy sweet soppressata. With just a touch of sauce to coat everything nicely, this was a truly tasty dish.

Making the Dish

Shittakes sliced into thin strips

Start the water boiling and add a touch of salt. While waiting for it to boil, begin chopping up your ingredients. You'll want to thinly slice a few cloves of garlic, clean your shittake mushrooms, and slice them into thin strips. Then, pile up your soppressata and cut into strips as well.

Preparing to slice the soppressata

Place a non-stick skillet over medium heat and drizzle in a tablespoon of olive oil. Place the shittake mushrooms into the oil and let sizzle. Throw in a dash of salt to facilitate the cooking process. Let the shittakes cook for about 7 minutes, turning occasionally, until they're nice and soft. You'll want them to get really soft, chewy shittakes are no good.

Cooking the shittakes until they're nice and soft

Once the shittakes have softened and the garlic has turned slightly golden, your water should be boiling. Drop in your spaghetti and cook until a minute shy of the package directions. Then, throw your soppressata into the pan with the shittakes and toss in the heat, separating and letting all of it get nice and slightly caramelized. Once the soppressata has cooked a bit, add in a cup of marinara sauce, and stir everything together. Remove from the heat.

The shittakes and soppressata have cooked together nicely.

When the pasta has finished cooking, remove it from the water with tongs and place it into the soppressata and shittake mixture. Spoon in some pasta water if you want to loosen the sauce, add some freshly chopped parsley, and toss over medium heat until the sauce has been absorbed by the pasta.

Adding the spaghetti and parsley to the shittake and soppressata mix

Spoon it onto a plate, top with some grated cheese, and enjoy!

Tossing everything together to combine

The Result
This has a sweeter and less aggressive flavor than the alla Amatriciana dish upon which it was based, which is provided by the soppressata.

The shittakes provide a touch of earthy flavor to give it a fullness that we weren't expecting.

For a 15 minute meal, it's hard to get more gourmet than this. Give it a whirl and let us know what you think. And if you know of any other post-Christmas-cooking-burnout dishes we should be trying, let us know in the comments!

Click through for the full ingredients list
Spaghetti with Soppressata and Shittake

Written by: Herbie Likes Spaghetti

A quick and easy weeknight meal that's tasty and gourmet

Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min

(Serves: 2)

1/2 lb spaghetti
4 oz soppressata
8 shittake mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
grated cheese to garnish
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley