Gemelli

Coral Tooth Mushroom, Tomato, Saffron

Throw on The Weeknd's "Earned It" and chill with these sexy little intertwined gemelli. While it looks like two tubes braided together, it's actually a single "s" shaped pasta that has been twisted to create this unique shape. The geometry is close to a casarecce or strozzapreti, but they are generally shorter and the twists are a little tighter. What I love about these foxy little pastas is that they are sauce agnostic, and can literally mix well with any sauce. Talk about free love.

My wife surprised me with an at home coral tooth mushroom grow-kit from Nearby Naturals. It took us a few weeks to grow and harvest this super unique fungi, but the end result was worth the wait. After reading about how the mushroom itself had some sweet and salty notes like crab meat, I decided to treat it just like a super premium ingredient. The end result is a rich and creamy pasta dish full of mushrooms, saffron, and cheese. And while the pasta is a little sexy devil, you will certainly feel anything but frisky with a belly full of this good stuff.

Servings: 4 - Time: ~40 mins. - Difficulty: 1 - Itsa Easy

Ingredients & Mise en Place

16 oz. gemelli
1 lb. coral tooth mushroom - broken into bite size pieces
1 pint heirloom grape tomatoes - halved and sliced thin
5 g saffron
1 medium yellow onion - finely diced
1.5 cup heavy cream
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup grated grana padano
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
chives
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
pepper

Directions

In a large stock pot, bring heavily salted water to a boil.

While that comes to a boil, in a medium sauce pan over medium heat add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and saffron. Once aromatic, about one minute, add in the cream and tomatoes and bring to a very slow simmer over medium to low heat. Stir frequently to not break the sauce, and remove from heat once it feels like it might be breaking.

Add the pasta to the boiling water. For gemelli cook for about 12 minutes to reach al dente.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, add in butter and onion and sweat until soft, ~2 minutes. Next add in the mushrooms and wine and sauté until soft, ~3 minutes. Next add in the saffron cream sauce and reduce to low.

Once the pasta is finished, reserve about 1/2 cup of pasta water, and then strain the rest. Add the pasta to the sauce, and quickly mix in the cheese and add salt and pepper to taste. Divide into 4 portions and add a copious amount of cheese and then some chives to make you think there’s something healthy about this dish.