Fresh porcini make the base of an incredible pasta sauce but cost at least twenty dollars a pound, if and when you can find them. Portobellos, which are cultivated, not wild, are sold at every supermarket every day at prices ranging from four to ten dollars a pound, and they’re consistent in quality. And if you cook them slowly in oil, adding a few reconstituted dried porcini as they cook—a technique popularized by Marcella Hazan—the results are wonderful. This mushroom topping is also great with nice, soft polenta (page 529).

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　1/2 pound portobello mushrooms

　　3 garlic cloves

　　Leaves from 2 or 3 fresh thyme sprigs

　　1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

　　Salt and black pepper to taste

　　1/4 cup dried porcini, optional

　　3 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes (canned are fine)

　　1 pound penne or other cut pasta

　　Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

　　

Step 1

Trim and clean the mushrooms; cut the caps into slices and the stems into small chunks. Combine in a medium skillet with 1 clove of the garlic, crushed and peeled, the thyme, the olive oil, and some salt and pepper. Cook over sufficiently low heat so the mixture bubbles but the mushrooms do not brown. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until they are quite shrunken in size and appear firm, 30 to 45 minutes. Turn off the heat and remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil in the skillet. (At this point you can pause for several hours before resuming cooking.)

　　

Step 2

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta and add salt. If you’re using the porcini, soak them in hot water to cover for a few minutes so they soften, then drain, trim, and slice. Mince the remaining garlic. Turn the heat under the oil to medium and add the garlic, portobellos, and drained porcini. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic begins to color, about 5 minutes; add the tomato and raise the heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomato breaks up and becomes saucy, about 15 minutes.

　　

Step 3

Meanwhile, cook the pasta until tender but not mushy. Taste the sauce and adjust its seasoning. When the pasta is done, drain it, toss with the sauce, top with Parmesan, and serve.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.