My younger daughter asked me a while back if I’d ever used black garlic. I told her I hadn’t yet. I’m typically late jumping on the culinary trend bandwagon. And typically, I regret being stubborn. That ended up being the case with black garlic, which was supposedly introduced to the U.S. in 2008!

She also uses black garlic purée, mixing it with sautéed mushrooms to put on toast, which sounds wonderful. All of this is so new to me, and I am so excited to try both of these out.

I was also inspired by Molly’s recent post on her black garlic pasta, from her blog Vanilla Bean Cuisine. Obviously mushrooms and black garlic are a match made in heaven.

I ordered the black garlic that Chef Molly recommended, as well as a black garlic purée.

I tasted both, of course, and was blown away! Black garlic is sweet, and the purée is reminiscent of an earthy hoisin sauce.

Then I got a text from a friend (this was early in April) who had harvested morel mushrooms! And of all places, he found them in a forested area in Oklahoma. I had no idea they could grow in this state.

So this ended up being a very exciting challenge for me! The result will be a fabulous pasta with morels and black garlic in a creamy black garlic sauce, topped with an herbed marscapone.

Pasta with Morels, Pancetta, Black Garlic, in a Black Garlic Cream Sauce
Serves 4

8 ounces pappardelle
2 tablespoons oil
4 1/2 ounces diced pancetta
1 large shallot, sliced
12 ounces prepped fresh morels*
4 black garlic cloves, sliced
Salt
White pepper, or sub freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon black garlic purée
1 tablespoon butter
Marscapone
Chopped parsley
Dried herbs (I used thyme and oregano)

Prepare pasta according to the package. Drain. Toss in a little olive oil to stay moist.

In a large skillet, add the oil and sauté the pancetta over fairly high heat until browned. This will take 5 minutes.

Lower the heat to medium high and add the shallot and mushrooms. Push the mushrooms around gently as needed. They will give off a lot of mushroom water. Season with salt and white pepper.

Lower the heat and stir in the cream, black garlic purée, and black garlic slices. Stir gently.

Bring to a low simmer and stir in the butter. Remove from the heat. The sauce should not be thin.

Place the pappardelle on a serving dish. Place the mushroom mixture on the pasta.

If desired, add chopped parsley, dried oregano and thyme to marscapone and stir well.

Serve the pasta and sauce on 4 plates.

Add a dollop of the herbed marscapone alongside the pasta.

I almost ate this whole pasta dish in one sitting. It was so good. The pancetta was perfect with the morels, the black garlic slices were a sweet surprise, and I liked the salt and white pepper additions. The creamy black garlic sauce was outstanding, and I did enjoy my marscapone with the whole lot. The shallots were really not necessary. All in all, I hope next spring I can be gifted more morel mushrooms so I can create something different with them! Thank you Makena.

* My friend soaked the morel mushrooms in cold water to remove debris and possibly little bugs and worms. We picked out the best ones, which were the least mature; older mushrooms get soft and can disintegrate. I sliced the good ones in half lengthwise, and the remaining that were not in tact, I cut into quarters. All were dried on paper towels.