Creamy Mushroom & Garlic Pasta

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
10 cloves garlic, finely minced or pressed
1/4 cup sifted flour
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cup chicken (or vegetable, for a vegetarian option) stock
2 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus extra to garnish
125 grams chestnut (or regular) mushrooms, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped

Directions

Heat the butter in a heavy saucepan on low heat until melted, then add the garlic. Sauté lightly for 5 – 10 minutes until it is softened, but not browned. Whisk in the flour to form a thick paste. Add the milk in a slow stream, whisking constantly. Then whisk in the chicken stock. Allow the soup to bubble and thicken, and add more stock if needed.

Add the mushrooms, red and yellow pepper and simmer for another 5 – 10 minutes, depending on how tender you want the chunks of pepper to be.

My Notes

You can probably also pan-fry the mushrooms beforehand, but I decided not to.

At this point, the sauce would have probably been OK to serve, but I wanted a thicker sauce on my noodles, so I whisked 1 - 2 tablespoons of flour into about 2 tablespoons of milk, added that to the sauce and let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so to thicken.

Don’t let the 10 cloves of garlic scare you, this is a really mild and creamy sauce! I prefer white pasta sauces to red anyway, but I love the fact that I don’t need to run out and buy crème fraîche anymore if I get a craving for a delicious creamy pasta meal!