If You Love Mushrooms, You’ll Love This Pasta Dish

The tastes in this pasta-and-mushroom dish are so rich that your family or guests will think you’ve been cooking for hours, but the meal can be prepared in less than 30 minutes.

Yes, you do need to love mushrooms to fully appreciate the assortment in the creamy sauce lightly tinged with curry. Many wild mushrooms - with their stronger flavors and meatier textures - are now available in supermarkets, and this recipe puts them to good use.

If you want to make this a totally vegetarian dish, substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth.

Mixed Mushrooms on Fettuccine

12 ounces fettuccine

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 pound mixed mushrooms such as domestic, shiitake, oyster or portobello, tough stems trimmed, cleaned and thickly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 to 1-1/4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 tablespoon cornstarch, dissolved in the chicken broth

3/4 cup reduced fat or regular sour cream

1/2 teaspoon curry powder, optional

1/2 cup finely chopped green onions

Salt and pepper to taste

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil for the pasta. Add fettuccine and cook until al dente.

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over high heat. When hot, add mushrooms and saute until browned, turning only after each side has browned. Reduce heat to medium. Add chicken broth with cornstarch and stir until thickened. Stir in sour cream, curry powder and scallions. Reduce heat to warm and hold until pasta has been drained.

Drain pasta and place on individual plates. Spoon sauce with lots of mushrooms over pasta. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings.