Monday, August 8, 2011

Creamy Morel Bucatini

When our friends Brett and Bobby visited, we all got busy and made a gorgeous dinner to go with the gorgeous wines they brought. Our typical "nice filet of salmon" on the grill, a zucchini gratin, a morel pasta dish, and Rainier cherry ice cream. I was in charge of the pasta. I used fresh, chubby bucatini, and made a sauce as follows:

Sweat some finely chopped Walla Walla sweets or other sweet onions in a pan with equal parts butter and olive oil. Add minced garlic and saute until the onions begin to caramelize. Remove onions and garlic from the pan and set aside. Heat more olive oil and butter; add morels and brown them, working in batches as necessary. Once they're all browned, remove them from the pan and set aside. Deglaze the pan with some marsala, and then add some more. Let the alcohol cook off, and turn the heat down to low. Whisk in some half and half to make a creamy sauce. Add sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Return the onions, garlic and morels to the pan, along with some minced fresh thyme, marjoram and parsley. Whisk in some grated Parmesan cheese to thicken the sauce. Stir in the cooked bucatini and a bit of the pasta water. Eat a forkfull from the pan and exclaim, "Ain't nothing wrong with that!" Serve with a dusty, leathery, awesome Pinot Noir.