Whenever I have a night in to myself I usually slip off my bra, open a bottle of wine and scrap around the pantry with the intent of concocting a new Asian sauce x dairy combo spaghetti dish.
After traveling for most of 2024 with my partner and only cooking very minimally, I had to make this private ritual a public one. About five months into our travels at an Airbnb in Phuket we needed some dinner and I pined for my spaghetti experimentation days.
That's how this dish was born. It's now a repeat staple of rented accommodation cooking because it takes very few utensils to pull off. You could even do it in a single pot. Just fry off the garlic and mushrooms, set them aside, then cook spaghetti in just enough water to leave a concentrated starchy stock before tossing the mushrooms, cream and soy in to finish.
That spaghetti cooking tip is actually one I learned from an Italian chef friend on how to make the best cacio e pepe that never splits.
Anyhow, you'll like it I reckon. The soy adds that nice depth of flavour which makes up for lack of technique, and the cream sauce is just the luxury you deserve after sharpening a knife with the bottom of a mug.
A fabulous pantry-only solution here is to use dried mushrooms. The pasta in the photos is made using dried shiitake which I rehydrated and sliced thinly. I also used the stock to thin out the cream sauce and add extra flavor.
Want to make it even easier? Don't chop the garlic. Just peel and throw a bunch of cloves in whole, or lightly crush them. If you fry them off well they'll soften nicely and add a smooth, sweet hit.
You can make this with rehydrated sliced mushrooms or fresh ones, just tear them up for easy prep.
A simple spaghetti with mushrooms and cream sauce you can make nearly anywhere, any time. Sub dried mushrooms in for fresh, cut the garlic or leave it whole.
