The other night Joseph and I headed out for our own little date night. We made it to a little theater production put on by our local college and then we went to a wonderful Italian place for a drink and some pasta. We had a terrific mushroom linguini with a light veal sauce. It was very tasty. Memorable enough that I was already trying to recreate it this week. I had to improvise though, so I substituted lamb jus for veal. I was very satisfied with the results, especially since this was the first time I'd used lamb for anything other than chops. Joseph said he thought I hit it out of the park on the first try...so I think it was a success.
I ended up freezing the leftover jus to create this dish again. This is a good thing since the restaurant where we had the original dish changes their menu weekly so I can't count on having this dish again.
Mushroom Linguini
1 cup lamb jus - leftover from roasting a leg
1 lb linguini
2-3 cups mushrooms - I used a combination of cremini and porcini, sliced
1 T olive oil
1 t garlic
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 T butter
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
Parmesan cheese
1 cup leftover cooking water from the pasta
While linguini is cooking, saute mushrooms in olive oil until softened. Add garlic, salt, and pepper. Saute another minute. Add lamb jus and butter. Once the butter has melted, turn down the heat and add the cream. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if necessary.
Drain pasta, add half of the reserved cooking water. Add mushroom sauce and additional cooking water if the sauce looks tight and serve immediately. Garnish with fresh Parmesan cheese.
