Pasta with portobello mushrooms and mascarpone

Here is another quick and simple pasta dish I made tonight. I had some mascarpone left in the fridge from making the carrot cake frosting on Saturday that needed using up and thought it would make a tasty pasta sauce with portobello mushrooms. I did a bit of an Internet search as well as looking through my cookbooks and recipe file but drew a blank on an actual recipe that I had all the ingredients for. I decided to go with my instincts of what flavours would work well together. I used dried thyme, and garlic which I had in my store cupboard, a grating of lemon zest added with the mascarpone would have been nice but I didn't have any lemons in. Luckily for us this dish turned out to be really tasty and quick so I'm blogging it for future reference and to share with anyone reading this. This dish was some what of a treat for us, as I normally do not cook creamy pasta sauces.

Pasta with portobello mushrooms and mascarpone
Serves 2

2 Portobello mushrooms, sliced
Pasta of your choice, enough for 2
Dried thyme (fresh would have been good but I didn't have any).
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced.
good splash of white wine (or 2-3 ice cubes in my case)
2 heaped tablespoons of mascarpone cheese
Parmesan to serve

Tip: Use a soft toothbrush to brush away any dirt from the mushrooms before slicing them.

• Put a large pan of water on to boil and once it reaches a fast boil add your pasta.
• Meanwhile heat a splash of olive oil in a large frying pan, sprinkle in a good pinch of dried thyme.
• Once the frying pan is hot (I cook mushrooms on a high heat so they don't release all their water) add the mushrooms, stir frequently.
• After a few minutes add the garlic to the mushrooms and continue to stir at regular intervals.
• Once the pasta is almost cooked, add a couple of ice cubes of white wine (from the freezer, or add a good splash of white wine if you have some to hand) and a couple of tablespoons of mascarpone to the mushrooms and stir to form a sauce. Don't worry if it is a little thick as you can add some of the cooking water from the pasta to thin it.
• Drain the pasta and add to the mushroom sauce. Stir to coat the pasta well in the sauce and add pasta water as required to form the desired consistency.
• Serve with a little grated Parmesan on top.

Enjoy!