Linguine with porcini and vegetable bolognese, soothing simplicity and striking complexity

“Sweet Sixteen” is not the only song I listen to five, six times in a row – I have other old favorites, songs that are so perfect to me that I hit the repeat button as soon as they start playing.

However, not all of them are as simple as Billy Idol’s beautiful creation: there are times when the only thing I want to listen to is Marc Almond’s powerful vocals, backed up with those loud and vibrant arrangements.

“Loving You, Hating Me” is a song I deeply love (as some of you already know), and I think it gets even more fantastic in the last one and a half minutes, with the arrangement going wild and Marc’s voice doing the same – depending on my mood I have to be careful not to sing it at the top of my lungs (which can be tricky if there are other people nearby). :D

There are days for Billy’s soothing simplicity, and there are days for Marc’s striking complexity, just as there are days for good old bolognese sauce and days for this delicious vegetarian version – it took me nine years to convince my husband to eat mushrooms and this was how I managed to do it (for the record, he loved the sauce and could not believe how tasty it was even though there wasn’t one single gram of meat in it). :)

Linguine with porcini and vegetable bolognese
slightly adapted from the amazing Delicious Australia

15g dried porcini mushrooms
400g linguine
2 small carrots, roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
200g button mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
handful of fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves
½ cup tomato sauce – I used homemade
½ cup (120ml) red wine
3 tablespoons water
½ cup sour cream*
grated parmesan or pecorino, to serve

Soak porcini in ½ cup (120ml) boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain, reserving the liquid, and chop.
Whiz carrot, onion, mushrooms and garlic in a food processor to finely chop.
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and add the finely chopped vegetables. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add the herbs, tomato sauce and drained porcini, then cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until fragrant.
Add the wine, water and reserved porcini liquid. Season with salt and pepper, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened. Stir through the sour cream and cook for 2 minutes.
In the meantime, cook linguine in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water according to the packet instructions.
Drain the linguine, reserving a little of the cooking water, and add it to the sauce. Toss to coat, adding the reserved water, if needed (I did not). Serve with the parmesan or pecorino (I used the latter).

*homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 4