Biltong, Mushroom & White wine cream sauce pasta

LET'S COOK!!

I have been such a fan of Masterchef lately, watching every possible series of every possible country I could lay my hands on, with this my husband and I decided to do a Masterchef cook off with things we had in the house.  I decided to do a Biltong, Mushroom & White wine creams sauce pasta and he decided to make a Cheese, Garlic & Ginger filled Rump steak.  I personally think I won the challenge as his was great tasting but mine was just so much better....(hehehehe)

 

Now you don't necessarily have to use Biltong (South African Dried Spiced meat) you can use Bacon or even Panchetta, which ever you fancy, or leave out the meat completely for a vegetarian meal.  I added cashew nuts to the plate at the very end, and wow, it was a great feature....try it trust me.

It's really plain and simple to make.


So here we go:

Ingredients

Printable Version

250g of Biltong (Bacon, Panchetta or even chicken)
1 x Punnet of Mushrooms
1 x small onion - chopped
Butter
1 to 2 tubs of cream (373ml)
125ml to 200ml white wine (I used a sweet wine)
1/2 packet of spaghetti or any pasta you want to use
Cashew nuts (a handful)
Garlic
Herbs
Salt
Flour (to thicken the sauce)


How to:

1. In a big pan melt the butter and then add your chopped onions in and saute until it's a nice golden brown.
2. If your adding bacon or any other meat add it in now, and cook until they are nice and crispy.  if you are using Biltong only add it in later.
3. Now to add the mushrooms, in this recipe I only halved them, it's a tasty way to eat fork-fulls of mushrooms...yum.  Don't let the mushrooms cook to long before continuing on with the saucy part of this recipe, we don't want the mushrooms to be soggy.
4. Add your 1 or 2 tubs of cream, I love a lot of sauce so I added both tubs.  Keep stirring and then add your wine gradually.  Turn the heat down and keep mixing. 
5. Add some garlic, herbs & a very little salt at this stage.  I sometimes scoop some of the sauce out into a small glass and then add 2 or 3 table spoons full of flour.  Mix the paste with your sauce and keep stirring. The reason why we add the flour outside of the pan is not to make any lumps.
6. When your sauce is completely finished you can add the Biltong, that's if you are adding Biltong.  Now set the sauce aside.

1. Boil the water for the pasta and add a about a tablespoon of salt to the water, when it's boiling add the pasta and let it cook.  The salt in the water make a huge difference to the taste of the pasta.  That is why we should had to much salt to our sauce.  And you should always cook your pasta at the end, so that they don't stick together.

And then you are ready to dish up, don't mix the two together rather dish them in the plate separately, add the cashew nuts and sprinkle a bit of  Parmesan cheese over to finish it off. 

Enjoy and let the taste move you.