Last week, my wife mentioned that we haven’t tried any sort of pasta since I began my Epicurious.com-based cooking experiment. I added a couple of noodle recipes into the queue, and tonight made the Fettucine with Porcini Mushroom recipe.

It’s a nice and simple recipe with just a few ingredients, and it’s quite easy to prepare. I had a bit of trouble finding the shallots at my local Hannaford, but they were worth the hunt. They give the sauce a real ‘French onion soup’ kind of taste that makes salt unnecessary. The porcini mushrooms were definitely not cheap ($5.99 for a 1 oz package), but the flavor is excellent.

One thing about the recipe that was surprising is how important a nice, sharp Parmesan is to making the dish work. I used a shredded Italian cheese blend, but the mozzarella and other cheeses reduced the bite that it was clear the Parmesan was supposed to provide. It left the dish a little more bland than I would have liked, but with a good aged Parmesan, this would be absolutely delicious.

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