Paltry performance of pasta

So, I had mushrooms that were going to go off in short order and decided that the Thursday night meal would be some sort of mushroom pasta. R could get over the lack of meat. It only sort of worked out.

So, here's the star - my almost overripe (do mushrooms "ripen?") mushrooms - crimini in this case:


And some more of the lovely pasta Miss S sent us - mushrooms should go with wild mushroom pasta right?


My accoutrements for the pasta were garlic and thyme:


I put a small amount of oil in the pan and let the mushrooms sizzle away on fairly high heat


Then added the garlic and thyme and a knob of butter (yeah, I said it, KNOB):


Meanwhile, I cooked the pasta for about 5 minutes - and made sure to reserve some pasta water:

Into the pan with the pasta and pasta water and I stirred a LOT:


Parmesan cheese anyone?


And there we have it (ignore the giant garlic hunks on top) - it looks pretty and appetizing right?



Well, it smelled really good. But the taste was just off - I think maybe I just wasn't in the mood and the powerful mushroom taste of the pasta mixed with the seared mushroom taste from the mushrooms may have been a bit too much. There was a lot of woodsiness going on. I will not abandon this idea, but perhaps with a lighter pasta - and a more open mind towards the meal itself.