Spaghetti Ai Funghi (creamy mushroom spaghetti)

Definitely one of my ultimate favorites growing up and now. The key to any pasta dish is to have the perfect brand of pasta to work with. Cooking the stuff to the perfect al dente hardness is essential to any authentic Italian pasta dish. Barilla and De Cecco are the only two brands I ever use. Trust me on this :) I use any mushroom i can find in local store, though nice plump seasonal Boletus would be ideal. Less are needed to make the sause, the more aromatic and wild the mushrooms are. To make this dish often, though, I freely use regular 'ol white caps or mini-portobello. A food processor is needed to get the mushrooms to a consistent, tiny, mush.

4 portions (it's SO delicious cold the day after too!)

• 1 pound of Barilla or De Cecco spaghetti
• 1 pound of white cap or mini-portobello mushrooms 
• 1 cup of organic heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 a teaspoon of chili flakes
• salt and pepper

In a food processor, finely dice your mushrooms. All of them! The dicing should be super fine, in fact, it should almost look like "mush" :) The mushrooms should be unrecognizable. Set aside.

Grab your deepest pot and bring water to boil on the back burner. Cover the pot for faster boil.

While the water heats up, grab a large saute pan and pour in 4 tablespoons of high quality extra virgin olive oil. On medium/high heat, wait for the oil to get to temperature. Then drop in the chili flakes. Let them fry a little bit, maybe a minute or less. Be sure they don't burn, if they burn quickly it means your oil is too hot so you should lower your temperature (not all stoves are alike).

After the chilis, add the mushroom "mush". You'll hear sizzling and will begin to smell the aromas. Use a wooden spatula to turn the mushrooms around so that they are coated in the oil and chilis and so that the "mush" is even in the pan. Salt and pepper to taste and cover the pan. 

The mushrooms should start to "sweat" when covered. You should see some of their liquid start to form. Once you see this, pour in the cream, set the heat to low, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

While the simmering is happening, the water in the deep pot should already have started to boil. This is when you add the salt (about 1 tablespoon). And you can also add the spaghetti. Turn the timer to 11 minutes (or however long it says on the spaghetti's packet). Don't cover the pot.

While the pasta is cooking, keep an eye on the mushroom cream sauce. Be sure it doesn't over-boil out of control. And be sure nothing is sticking. It should be a dense liquid. This is a great time to taste the liquid. If it needs salt or pepper, add it now. About 3 minutes into the pasta boiling process, take the mushroom cream sauce off of the heat and let it rest uncovered, while you wait for the pasta to finish cooking.

When the pasta is cooked, strain it. Make sure all the water is gone and then pour the pasta into the mushroom cream sauce. Use tongs to mix it all together evenly.