Food52
I'm a California woman cooking in Montana. I use what I have, given the seasons. We're in one of the "shoulder" seasons right now. Tomatoes are done, though some green ones are still to be had. The winter squash are coming in, and heaven knows, pumpkins are everywhere. I went to culinary school with a woman who put pumpkin in everything she could catch. It still makes me shiver. But mushrooms in any form speak to me of fall. I had 2 sources of inspiration for this: my Lost Shoes Risotto and Pierino’s pasta: http://www.food52.com/recipes/14018_tu_voi_fa_lamericano. For the former, a dream told me to soak dried porcini mushrooms in hot water to create the stock with which to make the risotto: http://www.food52.com/recipes/14680_lost_shoes_risotto. In the latter, pierino cooks his pasta in the same water in which he cooked his lobster, then adds a creamy sauce to it. It's such an ethereal step that for all I know, it came to him in a dream also. Call it 2 1/2 sources. I also used a bit of Harold McGee’s less is more method of cooking the pasta: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/dining/25curi.html?pagewanted=all, though I don’t buy the cold start method, and don’t understand why he sticks to his story after Marcella Hazan and Lidia Bastianich gave it the cold shoulder. If those ladies told me how to comb my hair, I'd listen. But I digress. Because of the relatively small amount of cooking liquid, a shaped pasta is going to work better than a long one. I used trottole (photo #2) because of all of its sauce-napping curls and folds, but use what you like. To make it vegan, substitute olive oil for the butters, omit the cheese, and increase the stock. Cheers!
