Whole Wheat Pasta with Wild Mushrooms and Spinach

15m
Prep Time

15-20m
Cook Time

30m
Ready In

Recipe: #2400

November 12, 2011

Categories: Side Dishes, Mushrooms, Spinach, Italian Sunday Dinner, Heart Healthy, Low Cholesterol, Italian Dinner, more

recipe by:
Kchurchill5

"A hearty dish, even though it has no meat in it. Wild mushrooms and whole wheat pasta give this dish a rich flavor even though there is no heavy sauce. The spinach really helps to lighten up this recipe. In the picture I posted, I used spaghetti because I had it on hand, but I prefer penne if you can find that. Pecorino Romano is the perfect cheese which has a bit more "tang" than Parmesan, but either cheese will work just fine. You can serve this as a main course or as a side dish. This is excellent as a side dish with grilled steak."

Original is 5 servings

Metric US

I've Tried It

Nutritional

Serving Size: 1 (344.1 g)
Calories 515.3
Total Fat - 19.1 g
Saturated Fat - 4 g
Cholesterol - 8.1 mg
Sodium - 1470.9 mg
Total Carbohydrate - 77.1 g
Dietary Fiber - 15 g
Sugars - 5.5 g
Protein - 12.3 g
Calcium - 275.1 mg
Iron - 2.5 mg
Vitamin C - 34.6 mg
Thiamin - 0.3 mg

Step 1

Vegetables ... In a large saute pan (you will be adding the pasta to this, so use a big pan) add the olive oil and butter and bring to medium high heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute just a minute stirring often, you don't want the garlic to burn. Then add in the mushrooms and a pinch of both salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium and saute until the mushrooms are tender. If the pan gets dry add a little chicken stock as the mushrooms cook. At this point you don't want the mushrooms cooking in broth, but you don't want them to burn, so just a little broth at a time, at this point. You will be adding more later.

Step 2

Pasta ... As the mushrooms simmer, cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and add the pasta in the pot, cover to keep warm, and reserve some of the pasta water.

Step 3

Mushroom Sauce ... Once the mushrooms are tender, add the sherry, parsley, the remaining chicken broth, spinach and the pasta. Toss to combine and cook just another minute. If the pasta seems a bit dry to you, add some of the reserved pasta water. The last few seconds, add in the cheese and check for any additional seasoning. The cheese and broth are both salty, so pepper is usually the only seasoning needed.