Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta

This Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta is full of flavor from brown butter, baby bella mushrooms and a healthy helping of salty feta. Comfort food for sure!

Let me just say right now that this is not the prettiest dish I’ve ever made. Those dark mushrooms are super flavorful, cooked in brown butter, but they aren’t very attractive. Would I prefer some golden chanterelles for this? Of course. But who can afford that many chanterelles? If only they weren’t so expensive.

No worries though because I can assure you that when you taste this pasta, its looks won’t matter! 

I’m often on the lookout for meat-free meals that are made with plant proteins like beans and legumes and are, of course, super tasty. That way no one misses the meat. This dish feels indulgently creamy because of the blended beans but when divided between six people, the calorie count per portion is quite reasonable. If you've been eating too many holiday treats, this dish will help balance that out.

Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta

This recipe is adapted from a vegan one on BiancaZapatka.com. I had good intentions on keeping it vegan but I didn’t have any non-dairy cream. And if I was going to use cow cream anyway, I might as well brown some butter, right? In for a penny, in for a pound, the feta at the end boosted the creaminess, salt and flavor. Its addition was also a good decision.

Ingredients to serve six

1 lb or 450g pasta of your choice (I like linguine.)

For the sauce:

1/4 cup or 60g butter

2 lbs or 900g baby bella mushrooms 

1/2 large onion (about 5.1 oz or 145g)

4 cloves garlic

1 can (15oz or 425g) white beans, drained and rinsed (I used navy beans.)

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

2/3 cup or 155ml cream

1/2 cup or 120ml vegetable broth

7 oz or 200g feta cheese, crumbled

Freshly ground black pepper

For garnish:

fresh parsley, optional

To serve:

Freshly grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, optional

Method

Clean the mushrooms and cut off any hard stem ends. Slice a third of them, cut the second third in bite-sized pieces and chop the last third. (Or cut them all one way. I just like the mix of textures when they are cooked.)

Peel and dice the onion finely. Peel and roughly chop the garlic cloves.

Rinse and drain the white beans and blend them with the cream, nutritional yeast and chopped garlic cloves in a food processor or with a hand blender until smooth. If the mixture is too thick to blend smooth, you can thin it with some of the vegetable stock. It’s all going into the pan together eventually.

Heat the butter in a pan and cook until the milk solids separate and the butter browns. 

If you need better instructions on browning butter, check out this link: https://www.cookingactress.com/2013/04/browned-butter-how-to.html My friend, Kayle, will show you how to do it. 

Add the mushrooms to the brown butter and pop the lid on your pan. 

Cook covered until the mushrooms release their liquid, stirring occasionally. This takes just a few minutes over a high heat.

Take the lid off the pan and keep cooking them until the liquid evaporates and the mushrooms are relatively dry and golden.

Add in the diced onions and sauté for about 2-3 minutes or until they are softened and translucent.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in salted water according to the package instructions.

Once the onions have softened, add the vegetable broth and the bean puree to the pan. 

Stir well. Bring the sauce to a boil then turn it down to simmer for a few minutes.

Add in the crumbled feta and a few grinds of black pepper. 

Stir to combine and warm the feta through.

Once the pasta is al dente, drain off the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sauce to serve.

Garnish with chopped parsley if desired and put freshly grated Parmesan on the table so folks can help themselves.

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are all sharing pasta for the holidays. Check out all the links below. Many thanks to our host, Sue of Palatable Pastime. 

• Christmas Penne Pasta from Making Miracles
• Creamy Basil Sauce Served With Spaghetti Pasta -Vegetarian from Sneha’s Recipe
• Creamy White Bean Mushroom Pasta from Food Lust People Love
• Shrimp and Crab Stuffed Shells from Palatable Pastime
• Spinach Ravioli with Pan Fried Scallops from Our Good Life
• Tenderloin Tips over Lemony Pappardelle from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Tortellini Soup with Sausage & Kale from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce from Mayuri’s Jikoni

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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