Cavatelli with Mushroom Butter Sauce

  3.7 – 27 reviews  • Main Dish
Level: Easy
Total: 30 min
Active: 30 min
Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

  1. 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  2. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  3. 1 yellow onion, finely diced
  4. Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  5. 2 cloves garlic, minced
  6. 16 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
  7. 1 cup frozen peas
  8. 1 pound cavatelli pasta, recipe follows (or use ready-made fresh or frozen)
  9. 1 1/2 cups grated Pecorino Romano cheese, plus more for garnish
  10. 2 tablespoons heavy cream
  11. 2 1/2 cups 00 flour
  12. 1 cup semolina flour, plus more for sprinkling
  13. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  14. 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive

Instructions

  1. Heat a saucepan over medium heat. Add the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter and cook until foaming. Add the onions, season with a little salt and saute about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more. Next, add the mushrooms and some salt and pepper and cook until the mushrooms have released all their liquid, about 5 minutes more. Add the peas and cook until heated through, another 2 minutes. Keep warm.
  2. Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Cook the cavatelli pasta to al dente, 4 to 5 minutes for fresh, or according to the package instructions. Set a strainer over a large heatproof measuring cup in the sink and carefully drain the pasta, reserving 2 cups of pasta water.
  3. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter. When melted, add the Pecorino Romano and 1 cup pasta water, whisking vigorously. Whisk in the cream. Add the pasta and toss to coat. Season with salt and add additional pasta water if the sauce is too thick. Stir in the mushroom mixture.
  4. Serve immediately, garnishing with additional freshly ground black pepper and freshly grated cheese.
  5. Combine the 00 and semolina flours with the salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse a couple times. Add the olive oil and 1 cup room-temperature water to the flour mixture and pulse a few more times. Mix until a shaggy mass forms, then turn out onto a clean surface. Knead vigorously until the dough is smooth, elastic and bounces back when pressed, about 10 minutes.
  6. Cut the dough in half and work with one piece at a time (cover the other piece with a clean, damp kitchen towel). Using a bench scraper or knife, cut a walnut-sized piece of dough and roll it into a thin rope about 1/3 inch in diameter. Using the 4 fingers of your hand (no thumb), roll the rope of dough back and forth until it is a long, slender, tube-like shape (but not enclosed like a tube). Halve the pieces of pasta. Set aside on a clean towel sprinkled with semolina flour. Repeat with the remaining dough. Rest the pasta for 30 minutes.
  7. To cook, generously salt a large pot of boiling water. Add the cavatelli and cook until al dente, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain and use with your sauce recipe of choice.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 1 of 8 servings
Calories 638
Total Fat 17 g
Saturated Fat 9 g
Carbohydrates 95 g
Dietary Fiber 5 g
Sugar 4 g
Protein 25 g
Cholesterol 46 mg
Sodium 571 mg

Reviews

Carla Robertson
Family was not impressed. Won’t make again.
Jeffrey Cox
Yum, I used chick pea pasta and salt free dash in place of salt to keep heart healthy. Very good Jeff Mauro. Bravo!
Hayley Rodriguez
Tyyyyy
Denise Dunlap
It was very good, but it seemed kind of labor-intensive in terms of having to use 3 pots for something so simple. Maybe drain the pasta, reserving some of the water, and finishing up in the pasta pot instead of a saute pan. 
Edward Meyers
Made this tonight for my husband and I! It was a home run, easy to put together in no time at all, had little time so had to use dry pasta, only way this could be better was to make the pasta from scratch!! Definitely a recipe to keep!!
Kayla Moore
Anonymous November 24 , 2021
Mary Alvarez
Sauce was amazing. Pasta recipe was terrible. Nothing like homemade pasta. Too tough. Dough was hard to work with.
Pamela Beard
Excellent and quick
David Frost
I thought it was delicious, but, my Parmesan clumped like glue…chewing gum texture…what did I do wrong? I also added some hot pepper flakes and thin sliced ham. I will try again next week!
Steven Nicholson
The taste was good, however the grated pecorino clumped into a gooey mess and never would melt. It was edible once you removed the huge clumps of cheese.

 

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