Roasted Garlic & Cremini Mushroom Pappardelle with Roast Chicken

Roasted Garlic & Cremini Mushroom Pappardelle with Roast Chicken
From Fresh & Local

Hands on time: 30 minutes
Roasting & Soaking time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 2 hours

Serves 4 (Chef Craig’s recipe served 8-10, I just halved everything)

Ingredients:
Roasting & Soaking:
1 head garlic
½ tbsp olive oil
¼ cup dried porcini mushrooms
¼ cup sherry
Sauce – part one:
1 small onion, diced
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
1tbsp fresh thyme leaves
¾ lb/350g whole cremini mushrooms
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 cups chicken stock
Sauce – final step:
½ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp olive oil
8oz/225g sliced cremini mushrooms (I actually found a package of mixed sliced mushrooms)
Meat of ½ small roasted chicken, picked & shredded by hand (You could use store bought bbq chicken but I roasted my own )

1 box pappardelle (250g/8oz)
2 tbsp Italian/flat leaf parsley, chopped
Grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Directions:
Roasting & Soaking: 1 hour
1. Preheat the oven to 300°F/150°C. Rub whole head of garlic with the olive oil and roast for 1 hour. When cool to the touch, use a serrated knife and cut about ¼” from the root end of the bulb. Squeeze the soft cloves into a small bowl, mash with a fork and set aside. Ruth's note: this slow roasting really did caramelize the garlic and kept it soft - I used to roast garlic at higher temperatures, but not any more. Thanks Chef Craig)

2. In a small bowl, soak the dried porcini in the sherry until hydrated and soft (about 1 hour).

Sauce – part one: 90 minutes
1. In a large saucepan, over medium heat, cook the onion, olive oil, thyme and whole cremini mushrooms, salt and pepper for 30 minutes.

2. Deglaze the pan with sherry and hydrated porcini mushrooms. Add chicken stock & roasted garlic and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Puree in a blender (I used my food processor) and strain through a chinois or a fine meshed strainer, (I used the back of a wooden spoon to really get a silky smooth finish without losing any mushrooms). Ruth’s note: At this point I realized that we were actually going to eat this the following night, so I stopped here and refrigerated the sauce. Something you might want to consider if you’re doing this for guests, because the last step takes less than 20 minutes.

Sauce – final stage 20 minutes
1. If you are in fact, doing this in two stages, gently reheat the pureed mushroom mixture in a large saucepan. Add cream and set aside.

2. In a large non-stick sauté pan, heat olive oil and sauté the sliced mushrooms until slightly golden. Add the pureed sauce and shredded chicken meat and heat only until the chicken is heated through (about 5 minutes).

3. In the meantime, cook the pappardelle according to directions.

To serve:
Ladle the sauce over the pappardelle, garnish with parsley and grated cheese.