Wild Mushroom Pappadelle

1. Prepare the mushrooms – use a stiff pastry brush to remove any dirt from the mushrooms. I put them in a coarse sieve and shook them – still more dirt came off. (See hint on mushrooms).
2. Slice all the mushrooms – not too thin and small – there should be visible examples of mushrooms in the final dish.
3. Heat four litres of water in a large pan and add tablespoon of salt.
4. Put the stock in another pan together with the bay, thyme, peppercorns and wine – bring to a rolling boil and reduce by half.
5. Finely chop the shallots, celery, garlic, and sweat in a large frying/ sauté pan or wok on a medium high heat to start then reduce to medium low – stirring all the time. When the shallots have sweated turn up the heat and add the mushroom – stir fry for 3- 5 minutes. When the mushrooms have released their moisture and are starting to colour, add a cup of stock to the pan and let it absorb into the mushrooms. Add all but a small garnish of parsley, stir, put on a lid and take off the heat – but keep warm.
6. Cook the pasta until just al dente. Take a cup of the water from the pasta and drain the pappardelle, and then put the pasta straight into the mushroom pan. Toss and stir the pasta – adding a little more stock to loosen the pasta – put the lid back on and let it rest for a minute or two. (If the pasta is still dry use the pasta water to loosen further.)
7. Check the seasoning, add a squeeze of lemon if necessary.
8. Serve with green vegetables or salad and crusty bread. Garnish with parsley.

Notes:
You do not need to use wine – but it this dish may need some acidy along the way – perhaps just a squeeze of lemon at the end. The dried ceps are for adding flavour to the stock. I do not use the reconstituted mushrooms themselves as most of the flavour will have gone into the stock. I try to build flavour into the stock to help give some depth to the dish. One could also put in a teaspoon of aged balsamic vinegar, or sherry vinegar, or mushroom ketchup, or Madeira or port – these will all add some extra flavour as well as some extra depth of colour.