Cicatelli con vari funghi

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

I made up this recipe one autumn evening in Linden, almost exactly as shown here. The kids were enthusiastic, which is nice because there is hardly any meat in it - just a single rasher of bacon - and they are usually most enthused about meat dishes.

Ingredients

6-8 dried shitake mushrooms
1 tbsp dried porcini
8-10 large portebello mushrooms
8-10 large field mushrooms
1 brown onion
1 large clove of garlic
1 rasher of bacon
2 tbsp butter
10 fresh basil leaves
Half a sprig of flat-leaf parsley
300ml double cream
dash of olive oil
2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
500g dried pasta (cicatelli, casarecce or campanelle)

Directions

Soak the shitake mushrooms and porcini in a bowl of warm water for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil a pot of water (twice as high as to cover the pasta in its raw state), add a generous pinch of salt when it’s boiling, and the pasta. Boil for about ten minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally - don’t overcook it, taste a piece if unsure, drain in a colander as soon as it’s ready - while you prepare the sauce, as follows.
Finely slice the onion and garlic, and dice the bacon.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan with a dash of olive oil to ensure the butter doesn’t burn. Cook the onion, garlic and bacon together for a few minutes over medium heat.
Slice the potebello and field mushrooms, shred the basil leaves by hand and add to the saucepan. Drain the shitake mushrooms and porcini. Slice and add to the pan, then continue cooking on low heat for another five minutes, stirring every minute or so to prevent sticking.
Season with the pepper and a little salt, and the parsley, roughly chopped. Stir, then pour in the cream.
Cook for a final few minutes until the cream has reduced a little, to form a thick sauce.
To avoid wasting any of the sauce, put the (cooked and thoroughly drained) pasta into the saucepan and stir. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Serve with steamed greens.