Fresh inky caps cooked down and simmered in a simple sauce for pasta, chicken, fish or pork is a good mica cap recipe way to try if it's your first time eating them, or if you've only thrown them in a sauté pan before and weren't impressed by how much volume they lose. There's a few different ways you can make it, read on and I'll explain.

A spoon in a pan of rich creamy mica cap mushroom sauce. — Rich mica cap mushroom sauce.

Mica cap mushrooms aren't as well known as their cousin the shaggy mane, but these mushrooms still have a good flavor and texture, provided they're harvested and cooked within 24 hours of picking.

Edible mica cap mushrooms or Coprinellus micaceus. — Mica caps / *Coprinellus micaceus*.

Chef's Tips

Mica caps have to be cooked quickly after they're harvested to prevent them from deliquescing and turning to ink.
If you don't want to make a sauce with dairy, or want to try a lighter recipe, try adding them to miso soup or my oyster mushroom soup with soba noodles.
Make sure to trim the caps so that there aren't long stems. I like to do this with a scissors.
If you want to serve the sauce with pasta, capellini or angel hair pasta is the best, but other small noodles like small shells could work too.

How to Make Mica Cap Mushroom Sauce

First you melt some butter, adding shallots and a small clove of minced garlic. Once the shallots are translucent they're pushed to the side of the pan to make room for the mushrooms.

Heating butter in a pan with shallots and garlic. — Sweating shallots and garlic in butter.

Moving shallots to the side of the pan to make room for mushrooms. — Pushing shallots to the side of the pan.

The mushrooms are added to the pan and cooked until wilted. Add a pinch of chopped fresh thyme while they cook.

Adding mica cap mushrooms to a pan of shallots. — Add the mushrooms.

Adding fresh chopped thyme leaves to a pan of mushrooms cooking. — Adding fresh chopped thyme.

Add a splash of dry white wine to the pan and reduce it until nearly dry. Next, add chicken stock and reduce the liquid again.

Deglazing a pan with white wine. — Deglazing the pan with white wine.

Adding chicken stock to a pan with mushroom sauce. — Adding chicken stock to the pan.

After the chicken stock is reduced, add the cream and simmer until thickened. Make sure to double check the seasoning for salt and pepper.

Adding heavy cream to a pan of mushroom sauce. — Adding heavy cream.

Simmering a mica cap mushroom sauce until thickened. — Simmering the sauce to thicken.

Serving with Pasta (Optional)

To serve the sauce with pasta, add 2 oz of dried capellini pasta. Toss the pasta with the sauce, adding a tablespoon of unsalted butter and a small handful of parmesan cheese.

Adding fresh cooked pasta to a pan of mushroom sauce. — Add the capellini pasta to the sauce.

Tossing capellini pasta with butter and parmesan cheese. — Toss the pasta with butter and parmesan.

Twirl the noodles into a serving bowl and spoon the sauce over the top. Garnish with extra parmesan and serve.

Twirling pasta noodles with mushroom sauce into a bowl. — Twirling pasta into a serving bowl.

Spooning mushroom sauce over a finished bowl of capellini pasta. — Spooning the sauce over the noodles.

A bowl of capellini pasta with mica cap mushroom sauce. — Capellini with mica cap sauce, parmesan and chives.

A spoonful of mica cap mushrooms in a creamy sauce on a spoon.

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5 from 1 vote

Mica Cap Mushroom Sauce

A simple creamy sauce made from mica cap mushrooms. Makes enough to sauce one small bowl of pasta or garnish two entrees like a grilled chicken breast or baked whitefish. The recipe is easily doubled.

Prep Time15

Cook Time10

Total Time25

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: American

Keyword: mica cap recipe

Servings: servings

Calories: 229kcal

Author: Alan Bergo

Cost: 5

Equipment

1 8 inch saute pan

Ingredients

3 oz mica caps 1.5 cups fresh stems trimmed so they’re mostly cap.
1 small clove garlic 1 teaspoon minced
1 tablespoon finely diced or minced shallot
1 splash white wine 2 T
¼ cup chicken stock
¼ cup heavy cream
Kosher salt to taste
¼ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

To serve with pasta

2 oz dried capellini pasta
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese, to taste
2 teaspoon fresh cut chives, to garnish

Instructions

Sweat the shallot and garlic in the butter in a small 8 inch saute pan.
When the shallot’s translucent, push them to the side and add the mushrooms to the pan. Cook for a few minutes until the mushrooms have wilted and released their water.
Add the wine to the pan and reduce until the pan is nearly dry.
Add the chicken stock and reduce by half.
Add the cream and simmer for a few minutes more until thickened. Double check the seasoning for salt and pepper, adjust until it tastes good to you, and serve.

Tossing with pasta

The recipe will sauce 2 oz of dried capellini pasta to serve 1 person. Double the recipe to serve two and use a 10 inch saute pan.
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water and add it to the sauce. Thin it with a splash of pasta water if needed.
Add the cheese and butter off the heat, toss to combine, taste and check the seasoning for salt, then twirl the noodles into a serving bowl, spooning the sauce and mushrooms over the top.

Video

Notes

This sauce can be made without cream and served as a white wine pan sauce for chicken, pork or fish. Omit the cream, double the chicken stock, reducing it by half, and add a teaspoon of kneaded flour and butter (kneaded roux) to thicken it. At the end of cooking, whisk in a tablespoon of unsalted butter to thicken it.

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