Miso and mushroom soul food pasta

I usually cook a batch of Miso Pasta for Christmas. Not exactly your idea of typical Christmas food, I know, but my good friend’s daughter, Kay, loves this and the family usually spends Christmas Eve with us so I cook what makes us happy.

It’s also the kind of food that you want to eat when you’re tired of having boring aglio olio, but want something simple and comforting that hints of what your mum used to cook for you (Of course, I’m talking Asian as those in the Western world be like, huh?).

The flavour is so subtle and the pasta, good enough to eat on its own; it can also be easily amped up with tuna, cream and bits of ham or bacon, and even a splash of white wine if you like.

The best part, however, is that this falls perfectly in line with my motto: super easy and can be whipped up in no time.

Ingredients

300g fettuccine or angel hair pasta (these or similar kinds of pasta that will absorb flavour well)

6 to 8 cloves of garlic (I like it garlicky but you may prefer less)

3 tablespoons of butter (approx 50g)

200g mushroom (oyster, shimeiji, straw, button or brown)

2 tablespoons of miso paste

1 cup of pasta water (obtained from cooking the pasta)

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet and set aside. Ensure that you add salt to the water when boiling the pasta.

In a deep saucepan or pot, melt the butter and then saute the garlic lightly. Add the mushrooms and saute some more.

Mix the miso paste with the reserved pasta water, and then pour into the butter and mushroom mixture and stir together nicely.

When it starts to simmer, turn off the fire. Toss the pasta in this mixture and serve while piping hot.

This pasta doesn’t sit well if left out too long as it dries up fast. Then it becomes an unappealing clump of carbo. You don’t want that to happen.