Mushroom Fettuccine with Miso Beef and Asparagus

Several years ago while we were stationed in Texas we would drive up to Wimberley for their Market Days.  The Wimberley Market Days was the 1st Saturday of the month and was a combination farmer's market, flea market, and arts and crafts show.  It took several hours to get through the whole thing even if you just took a quick glance at each booth.

One of the regular vendors would demo their pasta.  They had dry pastas of several flavors that they had developed.  Our favorites were the mushroom and the hot pepper.  I've not found any quite like them since we moved to Virginia.

I've tried different flavored pastas with mixed success.  My worst attempt was making black bean pasta.  The flavor was good but the texture was sadly lacking.  I've been researching alternative pastas and think I have a handle on some of the fixes.  I decided to test some of the changes on making the mushrooom pasta.

Most grocery stores have some small packages of dried mushrooms.  We went to Grand Mart, our favorite international market, and bought a large package of dried shitake mushrooms.  We also picked up a jar of miso at the same time.  I'd been thinking of the miso for soup but thought it would be an excellent seasoning.  I actually got Korean fermented soybean paste which is called Doenjang.  As I understand it, doenjang is a bit stronger flavored than miso.  I'm still calling it miso beef because more people are familiar with miso than the name doenjang.

Doenjang, fermented soybean paste

Mushroom Fettucinni

1/2 cup powdered mushrooms
1.5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk

Put a handful of dried mushrooms in a food processor/Vitamix and reduce to powder.  Put 1/2 cup of the mushroom powder in a bowl.  Add the flour and salt and stir to combine.  Add the eggs, egg yolk, and olive oil and stir.  Once most of the ingredients are combined, turn out on a smooth surface and knead until smooth.  Wrap in plastic and let sit for 20 - 30 minutes.  Cut the pasta into 4 pieces and run through the pasta maker to flatten and thin.  Cut into desired lengths then run through the fettuccine cutter.  Spread on a tray with a bit of flour and repeat with the rest of the dough.  Add the fettuccine to heavily salted boiling water and cook until almost done.  This will just be a few minutes.  Add to the miso beef and asparagus and combine thoroughly.  The fettuccine will finish cooking during this mixing.

These are the dried Shitake mushrooms I used

Miso Beef and Asparagus

1 lb beef, I used strip steaks
1 lb asparagus
1/2 cup miso paste
2 Tbs olive oil

Cut beef into thin strips and put in a bowl.  Add the miso paste and mix thoroughly.  Let this stand for at least an hour.  Trim the asparagus then cut into thirds.  Heat olive oil in a skillet and add the asparagus and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Once the asparagus has cooked for 1 - 2 minutes add the beef to the skillet.  Cook until the meat is almost done.  This should be timed to be around the same time the fettuccine is done.  The pasta water that transfers with the fettuccine will combine with the miso paste to make a nice sauce to coat the noodles.  Serve and enjoy.  This will make 4 good size servings.

Mushroom Fettuccine with Miso Steak and Asparagus

This is a mighty tasty meal that reheats well if you have leftovers.  This would also work well with pork or chicken.  Give these out of the ordinary ingredients a try.  Let me know what you think.


Uncle T