Since cauliflower mushrooms have a texture similar to egg noodles, I love mixing them with farfalle or another flat pasta to compliment their shape. It's one of my favorite cauliflower mushroom recipes.
As a basic guide, when serving pasta you want shapes that work well together, everything should roughly be the same size in the dish. For our cauliflower mushrooms, farfalle are just about as good as it gets.
I made them here with some green dandelion farfalle, but your favorite brand of bow-ties, (I like this one) or just basic egg noodles, or another shape like fazzoletti or maltagliati would be fine too.
Cauliflower mushrooms have such a great shape and texture. They're big and fluffy like a hen of the woods, but unlike a hen, they don't keep that texture when cooked, instead they deflate a bit and end up having the texture of noodles, so when I have some cauliflowers around I love to sneak in a bowl of pasta with them.
Adapting the recipe
This is an fun cauliflower mushroom recipe you can adapt to what you have around you.
If you don't want to make fresh pasta, use your favorite shape, but for the best compliment to the mushrooms, use a smaller shape that's similar in size to the pieces of mushroom that should be about the size of cauliflower florets. I use chicken stock and butter here, but white wine and cream will work too, just don't overdo the cream.
Cauliflower Mushroom Pasta with White Wine Sauce
Equipment
- 1 Pasta roller Optional
- 1 10 inch saute pan
Ingredients
- 4 ounces dandelion pasta dough cut into farfalle shapes (recipe follows)
- ½ teaspoon minced garlic
- Zest of ½ a lemon microplaned
- 8 ounces cauliflower mushrooms washed if needed, cleaned and cut into shapes the same size as your pasta
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons shallot diced ¼ inch
- 1 cup homemade chicken stock
- ½ cup dry white wine
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- ½ cup grated Grana Padano or parmesan cheese
- 1 Tablespoon fresh cut chives to garnish, optional
- 1 Tablespoon torn fresh basil leaves to taste, optional
Instructions
- Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. When the water is boiling, add the farfalle and stir to prevent sticking.
- Meanwhile, melt half of the butter in a wide 10inch saute pan, then add the mushrooms and sweat for a few minutes.
- Move the mushrooms to one side of the pan and add the shallots and garlic, then stir and continue cooking on medium heat, do not put too much color on the mixture or the garlic will burn. Season the mixture to taste with salt, then deglaze the pan with the wine and reduce until nearly dry.
- Add the chicken stock and reduce by half.
- Drain the farfalle and add to the pan along with the lemon zest and remaining butter. Swirl the pan and cook for a few minutes more to thicken the sauce, then double check the seasoning, the sauce should be slightly lemony, and thick like gravy.
- Before serving, quickly stir in half of the parmesan off the heat, along with the basil, then divide the pasta between heated serving bowls and serve immediately with the remaining parmesan on the side.
Notes
Fresh pasta substitutions
I made fresh pasta here, but you don't have to. If you want to use dried pasta, here's shapes I'd recommend. You want shapes that will mingle with the pieces of mushroom.- Cavatelli
- Gnocchi
- Fazzoletti: The Hankerchief Pasta
- Small farfalle (farfallini)
Nutrition
Dandelion Pasta Dough
Equipment
- Pasta roller
Ingredients
- 4 large egg yolks
- Fresh dandelion greens about 2 ounces
- ½ cup semolina flour
- 1.5 cup ap flour
- Pinch of salt
- Water as needed
- Semolina flour to dust the work surface as needed
Instructions
- Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Blanch the dandelion greens for 30 seconds, then refresh in an ice bath and drain. Chop the blanched milkweed leaves finely, then puree on high speed in a blender or food processor with the eggs until finely pureed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer or by hand, combine the flours, salt, and egg-dandelion puree. Mix the ingredients together with a paddle until just combined, then switch to the dough hook attachment until a smooth dough is formed. Allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes before rolling out.
- To roll out the pasta, cut off ¼ of the dough at a time and roll out thinly with a rolling pin. Roll out the pasta to the thinnest setting available on the pasta machine, then cut ½ inch fettuccine noodles with a knife by hand or with a fettuccine attachment.
- Toss the cut fettuccine in semolina flour to prevent sticking. Freeze the pasta or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, tossing occasionally with more semolina flour if needed to prevent sticking.
More
Cauliflower Mushrooms: The Noodle Fungus
Steamed Cauliflower Mushrooms with Ponzu
Theresa Capri
I made this tonight with my first cauliflower mushroom. Oh my goodness so yummy!! I used premade farfalle instead of the dandelion kind and a bit more garlic, but I had no idea how to prepare it until I read this recipe. Thanks for sharing your knowledge 🙂
Alan Bergo
Glad it could give you a starting point Theresa.
Gabrielle Preiser
So simple and delicious, now I just need to keep finding cauliflower mushrooms
Laura
Oh good grief I'm eating this now with cauliflower with Sparassis spathulata. Used gigli and asiago because that's what I had and no shallots but a little onion powder. Basil but no chives. One of the best things I've ever tasted.
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you Laura.
Mandy
Found a cauliflower mushroom today and KNEW I would find a great recipe here.
Was super easy and absolutely delicious.
Thank you!
Alan Bergo
Glad it worked for you.
daisy
recipe jumps from dandelion to milkweed and never resolves them.
Alan Bergo
Thanks for catching that typo it’s only dandelion greens for the pasta dough, so disregard any mention of milkweed. I’ll get to that later today. Thanks!