Wholesome Wednesday: Fettuccine with Mushrooms, Ricotta and Riesling

Susie's love for mushrooms is legendary!  She'd happily eat them just pan fried if we'd let her.  :)  I knew when I recently came across a recipe from Nigella Lawson's Nigellisima cookbook that I could definitely punch up the mushroom content and make it more home cook friendly.  Cause lets face it, you can never have enough mushrooms.  :)

This is one of those recipes where you need to prep all your ingredients before you start.  Everything besides the pasta cooking goes extremely quickly.  Think making a stir fry quick.  Which makes it the perfect on the fly meal.

Here's our version of the recipe with things I always have on hand in my kitchen.

Fettuccine with Mushrooms, Ricotta and Riesling

1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
1/2 cup Riesling
1/2 cup water
1 cup ricotta cheese
freshly grated nutmeg
ground pepper
1 lb fettuccine
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

In a small saucepan, place shiitake mushrooms, Riesling and water; bring to a boil.  As soon as it starts to boil, turn off the heat and leave the mushrooms to soak for 10 minutes.  Start your pasta water.

In a medium bowl combine ricotta cheese, nutmeg and pepper. When mushrooms are done soaking, drain mushroom water into ricotta mixture.  Make sure to squeeze mushrooms to remove the most liquid possible, whisk mixture.  Roughly chop mushrooms and set aside.

At the same time, melt the butter in a wok or a large non stick skillet.  Add the sliced mushrooms and start to cook.  When they release their liquid, add minced garlic and saute for about 30 seconds or until fragrant.  Add chopped shiitake mushrooms and saute a few minutes.  Add the ricotta mixture and heat till just bubbly.  Turn off heat and set aside.

Reserve a cup of pasta water when draining your pasta.  Add drained pasta to wok with ricotta mixture.  Sprinkle with half of the grated Parmesan cheese.  Toss, adding pasta water as needed.  Serve and garnish with extra Parmesan cheese.