Miso Mushroom and Leek Pasta
Published Sept. 12, 2024

- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 25 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- Salt
- 2tablespoons olive oil, plus more as needed
- 2medium leeks, trimmed, white and light green parts thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
- 1½pounds mushrooms (such as cremini, shiitake and/or oyster mushrooms), stemmed and sliced
- 1pound short pasta, such as ziti or cavatappi
- 2tablespoons white miso
- ¾cup grated Parmesan, plus more for garnishing
- 1tablespoon sherry or red wine vinegar, plus more to taste
- 1tablespoon chopped parsley leaves and tender stems
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Step 2
Meanwhile, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a Dutch oven or deep 12-inch skillet over medium-high until shimmering. Add the leeks, season with salt and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. If they look dry at any point, add a drizzle of oil.
- Step 3
Add the mushrooms to the leeks, season lightly with salt, and cook, stirring every 2 minutes, until the mushrooms have browned, about 10 minutes. (If they are done before the pasta, then adjust the heat to low.)
- Step 4
When the water is ready, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Halfway through the cooking process, reserve 1 cup of water and let cool slightly on the counter. Drain the pasta in a colander and drizzle with olive oil if done before the mushrooms.
- Step 5
When both the mushrooms and pasta are done, stir the miso into the reserved pasta water until mostly dissolved. Add it to the Dutch oven or skillet over medium-high heat along with the pasta, cheese and vinegar, stirring vigorously until a cheesy sauce forms and coats the noodles, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and season to taste with more vinegar if needed.
- Step 6
Garnish with the parsley and more cheese; serve with a final drizzle of oil.
Private Notes
Comments
For Mel M et al.: If you want dryer, crisper, crustier mushrooms without the wateriness, the general instruction these days is to cook them first--no salt!--until after they're cooked to your preferred shade of brown. See Ali Slagle's recipe for Sautéed Mushrooms on this website.
How can I be the first note for this?! I'm honored. This is seriously one of the best pasta dishes we have ever had. Outstanding. I didn't have sherry vinegar, so used balsamic. Wowzer. Easy too.
The flavours were great and it was very simple to put together. I love sherry vinegar! That being said, I felt like it was too much pasta and not enough “stuff” so next time I would do more vegetables and 3/4 lb of pasta.
I often cook leeks with shiitake and miso, and a fair bit of butter, and I always put the shiitake first and add the leeks after the shiitake have picked up some color. Today I put my scepticism aside and followed the recipe. Big mistake! Shiitake should go in first!
Love it! This is so great.
when pasta is cooked al dente, strain it, put it in with the mushrooms/leeks and add the reserved pasta water with miso, vinegar, and Parmesan @Lee Ann
