Mushroom Pasta with Goat Cheese & Edamame Mint Sauce

The name of this post may or may not be a mouthful.  (Hint: it is.)  Sometimes I'm just not sure what to call things, so I go a little wild.  You like it.  I know you do.

I've been racking my brain for months.  Way too much time has passed by while I attempted to come up with a recipe for some mushroom pasta I snagged a while ago.  I like mushrooms, but I don't love them.  So why did I purchase this pasta?  I don't know.  That's the truth.  I saw a ton of pasta options in front of my eyes and my mind just went blank and I purchased everything.  This may be one of my faults.

Unfortunately, this meant that my mushroom pasta sat all by its lonesome in the pantry for more time than I care to discuss.  I felt a pang of guilt each time I opened the pantry door and pulled something else out to cook.

So I finally put my foot down.  It was time to make this pasta into something tasty.  Yes.  Yes it was.  By this point, I actually had a few recipes earmarked as potential "mushroom pasta" recipes.   I picked up the latest one that had caught my eye and set out to make this thing go down.

Mushroom Pasta with Goat Cheese & Edamame Mint Sauce
adapted from a What Katie Ate recipe

Print Recipe

Sauce

• 1/2 cup edamame
• 3 heaping tablespoons greek yogurt
• 100 grams (a little less than 1/2 cup) goat cheese*
• ~5 mint leaves
• ~5 basil leaves
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Pasta

• 1/2 lb pasta, cooked according to directions (I used wild mushroom fettuccine pasta)
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup pecans, crushed
• 1 cup frozen peas
• ~10 large mint leaves, julienned
• ~5 basil leaves, julienned
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup reserved pasta water
• extra goat cheese for serving (optional)

1) To make the sauce, place all sauce ingredients in a food processor and blend until a smooth and creamy, light green sauce is formed.  Taste and adjust seasonings accordingly.  If you are making this ahead of time, store the sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator, up to 3 days.

Tip: To make the sauce even smoother, remove the outer jackets from the edamame beans before processing.

2) Add the sauce to a saucepan and warm over low heat.

3) Toss in the pecans and peas.

4) Place the pasta in a large bowl, then pour the warm sauce over the pasta.  Toss to coat the pasta in the sauce.

5) Add the mint and basil leaves to the pasta, along with the salt and pepper.  Toss the pasta to distribute the herbs and spices.  Add reserved pasta water if the sauce is not loose enough.

6) Serve with extra goat cheese, if desired.

I know I mentioned this above, but let me reiterate this: you can make the sauce ahead of time!  This means the world to me because I can have this meal ready in no time at all.  The night before, just whiz the sauce ingredient together and the next day you can make the pasta, heat up the sauce, and throw it all together.  Pretty sweet.

This is a different type of pasta, in that it's not one of those overly saucy dishes.  The pasta is merely coated in the smooth sauce.  The sauce is slightly tangy and infused with fresh herbs.  The pecans provide a slightly crunchy texture to each bite.

If you're a fan of this, then you should also check this out!