Creamy Mushroom Parmesan Pasta

Cook pasta to al dente in heavily salted water accoding to package directions. Right before draining, scoop out and save about 1 cup of the cooking water.

Meanwhile, preheat a large skillet to medium-high heat with a drizzle of oil. Add mushrooms with a sprinkle of salt and sauté for 5 minutes. Add shallots to the pan and stir for 5 minutes more to soften.

Add butter to the pan and sprinkle flour over mushrooms. Stir to coat for 1 minute, then very slowly drizzle in the milk or half-and-half to create a bubbling sauce. Turn heat down if the sauce bubbles very aggressively.

Add pasta, 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and a splash of pasta water to the sauce. Stir to combine.

At this point, adjust seasoning. Add salt and pepper, more pasta water or Parmesan, and stir a few times until pasta is coated but not soupy and sauce tastes great.

Serve with extra Parmesan and black pepper. Enjoy!

Notes:
• Feel free to use any mushrooms that you like, and change it up each time! The wild mushroom blends that are already stemmed and sliced are particularly quick and easy.
• I like freshly grated Parmesan for this because it melts nicely into the sauce, but you don’t have to use imported Parmigiana Reggiano—any Parmesan will work well as long as you grate it yourself! Or don’t, it’ll be fine either way.