Super Easy Mushroom and Pasta Sauce

Autumn is here. Big time. Apple trees all over are stretched to the limit trying to hold the weight of all the delicious apples hanging from their branches and the previously so warm sunshine has grown colder. I mean this, the Sun doesn't feel warm anymore. The trees are not yet yellow but most flowers have died already and the shades of yellow and orange are seeping in to parks and woods. Somehow it seems so wrong... summer was so brief, it didn't properly start at any point. We kept hoping and hoping but it never really started. And now all that weak hope is finally forgotten.

But not all is bad about Autumn. Even though it's not warm anymore we have enjoyed a lot of sunshine lately. Also restaurants and shops are changing from their light summer foods to more hearty, full ingredients including vegetables and most importantly, the gold of the forest, mushrooms! A lot of people hate mushrooms because their texture can be a bit slimy and the taste can be strongly earthy. But I love them, especially in a thick, creamy sauce. And thank goodness I do because my dad is a very passionate mushroom picker, he can spend half a day in the forest hunting for chanterelle, which means that at the end of the summer we have a freezer packed with them. 

Vegetarianism and veganism have been very trendy for years now, and unconsciously my diet has moved towards vegetarianism for couple years now. Especially in Slovakia I noticed I was choosing the vegetarian options often in restaurants. They were simply so good. And maybe it was also because Slovaks use a lot of the "bad" pieces of meat as well as the good bits and for someone as picky about meat as I am, the vegetarian option was the safest. Mushrooms are a big part of a vegetarian diet and even though I don't count myself as a vegetarian I like cooking vegetarian dishes because they are very often the quickest and the simplest ones. You don't have to worry if something is cooked properly. 

I'm a bit of a disaster in the kitchen so simple foods have a special place in my heart. And when the coldness and darkness start to descend I need hearty, fatty, rich food and cream sauce is an obvious hit. This receipt is the easiest ever because you don't need fancy spices or dozens of herbs and rare oils. All you need is an onion, pasta, mushrooms, cream, salt and pepper. What I would also recommend to add is some mozzarella, that works with pasta every time.

Super Easy Mushroom and Pasta Sauce

(for 2)

- pasta (I prefer tagliatelle)

- 500g chanterelles

- 1 onion

- 2dl cream

- salt & black pepper

- 1 packet of buffalo mozzarella

- parsley or other herbs if you feel like it

Clean the mushrooms and chop the onion. Fry the onions in butter and add the mushrooms, let the liquid boil away. Add the cream and if needed, butter. Spice with some salt and black pepper. Boil the pasta in salty water, drain and add into the sauce. Pour the whole thing into a serving bowl and tear some mozzarella on top. Serve straight away. Easy peacy, lemon squeezy!