Super Fine Shiitake Pesto Spaghetti

Super Fine Shiitake Pesto Spaghetti

This one is properly special. We came up with this when we were obsessed with making pesto feel a bit more exciting, and shiitake mushrooms completely transformed it. You get this deep, savoury, umami-packed sauce clinging to every strand of spaghetti, with the asparagus adding a fresh crunch that cuts right through it. It's the kind of pasta that tastes like you've been cooking for hours, but it's on the table in 25 minutes. Make this tonight, you won't regret it.

Cook: 25 min
Serves 2

Before You Start

  • Large pot of boiling salted water for pasta
  • High-sided saucepan

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 150g Shiitake mushrooms
  • 100g vegan pesto
  • 100g asparagus
  • 1 tbsp Nooch
  • ½ lemon
  • 200g spaghetti
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • rocket dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Method

1

Prepare the ingredients

  • Finely slice the shiitakes, really fine.
  • Trim the asparagus and quarter long ways so you have really fine strips.
2

Start the sauce

  • Warm the olive oil in a high sided saucepan, add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt and pepper and fry for 4-5 minutes over high heat.
3

Cook the pasta

  • Add the pasta to a big pot of boiling salted water and cook according to packet instructions (approx 9 mins).
4

Finish the sauce

  • Add the pesto to the pan and stir for 1 minute.
  • Add a ladle of pasta water, stir to combine and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.
  • When the pasta has 2 minutes left to cook, turn up the heat, add the asparagus, Nooch, the juice of half a lemon and a little more pasta water to create a nice sauce, fold to coat and simmer for 2 minutes to soften.
  • Taste and season to perfection with salt and pepper.

Tips & Variations

  • Save that pasta water: We can't stress this enough. A good splash of starchy pasta water loosens the pesto into a silky sauce that coats every bit of spaghetti properly. Don't skip it.
  • Get the slicing right: Ian's pretty particular about this one. The finer you slice the shiitakes and the asparagus, the better the texture of the whole dish. It's worth taking an extra minute with the knife.
  • Boost the pesto: Henry always adds an extra handful of nutritional yeast to the pesto for a deeper, cheesier hit. If you haven't tried nooch in pesto yet, trust us on this one.

Why This Works

The trick is slicing everything really, really fine. The shiitakes almost melt into the sauce when they're cut thin and hit that high heat, giving you this incredible depth of flavour without any chewiness. And frying them with just a pinch of salt and pepper first lets them do their thing before the pesto comes in and brings everything together.