Black Trumpet Alfredo

Slofoodgroup Team May 03, 2023

Creamy Gluten Free Mushroom Alfredo Sauce

If you’ve ever had a really exceptional Alfredo sauce, you may have asked yourself what the secret was—or maybe you externalized your wonder and asked the chef. I’m willing to bet they weren’t willing to give up their secret. In most cases, the secret is in the simplicity of this sauce and the inclusion of rich ingredients like butter, high quality cheese, and sweet cream, but there are other techniques you should keep in mind to ensure a smooth sauce (for instance, make sure you use fresh-grated cheese and stir it in a little at a time, rather than all at once). 

Just because it is based in simplicity, however, doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate other beloved flavors. We love the way the earthy tones of mushrooms balance the sweetness in cream sauces, so we developed a recipe using dehydrated black trumpet mushrooms. There are definitely more ingredients in our recipe but the core is the same—fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, heavy whipping cream, and butter. We also incorporated a bit of acidity using white wine and additional layers of flavor with a touch of broth, garlic, and shallot.

We adore this mushroom Alfredo sauce and think you will too.

Creamy Alfredo Pasta with Black Trumpet Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• ½ cup sweet cream butter
• 1 ounce dehydrated black mushrooms
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 tablespoon fresh garlic paste
• 3 tablespoons white wine
• 1 ½ tablespoon corn starch
• 1 ¼ cup chicken broth or vegetable broth
• ½ teaspoon fresh-ground white pepper
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 4 ounces fresh-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Procedure:

1. Soak the black trumpet mushrooms in 1 cup of heavy whipping cream for at least 30 minutes.
2. Melt half of the butter in a saucepan.
3. Add in your shallot with a sprinkle of sea salt and sweat until they are tender. Then, turn the heat up and sauté.
4. Stir in the garlic paste.
5. Squeeze much of the cream out of the mushrooms with gloved hands (you will be using the mushroom flavor cream later) and toss them in with the shallots. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes.
6. Add the remaining butter and stir in the cornstarch
7. Mix in the white wine
8. Slowly add the vegetable broth, whisking often to avoid lumps.
9. Slowly mix in the whipping cream that your mushrooms were soaking in and another cup of whipping cream.
10. Bring the mixture to a simmer and stir in your white pepper.
11. Add your cheese a little at a time, stirring continuously. Adding the cheese all at once or failing to stir it could cause your sauce to become grainy.
12. Turn the heat down and serve immediately.

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