fettuccine with scallops and water cress

INGREDIENTS

• 500g white mushrooms

• 30g dried porcini

• 550g pork shoulder steaks

• black garlic purée

• 3 medium garlic cloves

• fresh sage leaves

• dry oregano

• Hawkstone cider

• 4 tblspns pistacchio kernels

PASTA

• 400g fresh strascinati

(Martimucci) / orecchiette

MANTECATURA

• none to slight

METHOD

Begin by making the mushroom sauce. Start by reconstituting the dried porcini - this will take about 45 minutes and a few changes of boiling water. Once the mushrooms are rehydrated, squeeze them, set them aside, then filter the mushroom liquor to remove any grit. Keep the liquor for use later. 

Fry some sliced white mushrooms in EVO, garlic, a pinch of dry oregano, a handful of pinoli and a splash of cider. Season and let the cider evaporate and then carry on until the mushrooms begin to pick up some colour. Set them aside. In a separate pan, give the porcini the same treatment - cooking them separately means you can give both types of mushroom different cooking times, if need be.

Once you’ve cooked both types of mushrooms, take about 2/3rds the total amount and blend with some EVO, a tablespoon of pecorino and 2 tablespoons of black garlic purée to make a finely chopped sauce. Add some of the mushroom liquor if you need to loosen it up a bit.

Next, cook the pork shoulder (but first get the water boiling for the pasta while you do the next step). I like to use heavy, cast iron pans for steaks of meat, and I start by rubbing them with olive oil and getting them very, very hot.

Season the pork shoulder steaks well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. After a few minutes cut into one and check it’s cooked through. Remove the steaks from the pan and cut into thin strips about 1cm thick and 4cm long. Let them rest while while you gently fry some fresh sage leaves in EVO. Don’t burn them, just get them crispy and then set them aside to use as a garnish later.

If you’re using fresh strascinati or orecchiette you’ll have about 4-6 minutes’ cooking time for the pasta, which is about enough time to return the pork to the frying pan, splash with cider and let it evaporate, and then turn the heat up to colour them a little. If you’re using dry pasta you’ll need to wait a few minutes before finishing the pork.

As the strascinati reach the point of being cooked (with fresh pasta it’s sometimes the moment that they all float to the surface, but check for yourself and adjust the cooking time as required!), fish them out of the water and add to a pasta wok which contains about half the mushroom sauce. 

Add a little pasta water, add the pork, tossing and combining, add more mushrooms / sauce and water if need be, then serve immediately with parmesan / pecorino, black pepper and the remainder of the mushrooms and the fried  sage leaves on the top of each portion.

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NUTRITION PER SERVING

coming soon

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