This garlic mushroom linguine is easy and delicious. Simple and flavorful without any fuss and perfect as a vegetarian main dish.
Sometimes, all I need is a bowl of comforting pasta. I don’t even care what sauce/flavorings I have on it. I just want perfectly cooked pasta. Even something as simple as garlic-butter would be perfect. But alas, my family expect more of me than just garlic-butter spaghetti. So I have to compromise and give them something slightly more substantial but I still need it to be easy-peasy and no-fuss.
We try to eat vegetarian meals a few times a week and a simple pasta like this garlic mushroom linguine is a great way to make it easier to eat less meat. Not only is it good for the environment, it also cuts your food budget down.
Even though I absolutely adore cooking, there are just nights when I can’t stand being in the kitchen. It’s too hot, I’m not feeling it and all I want to do is lie on the couch and watch The Office. Pasta is perfect for nights like that because, it’s so easy to rustle a sauce together that cooks in the same time as the pasta does. You could make a simple garlic butter sauce and emulsify it with the pasta cooking water or add some cream to create a velvety sauce. It’s really probably the easiest thing I’ve ever cooked and my family all loved it.
How to make garlic mushroom linguine
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil then add the linguine. While the pasta cooks, saute sliced mushrooms and leeks in a large pan or skillet until golden brown. Add the garlic and oregano and saute for another 30 seconds before adding the cream. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Season with lemon, salt and pepper then remove from the heat. Drain the linguine and reserve 1 cup of water. Toss the pasta with the sauce and add a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water. Serve topped with grated Parmesan.
Easy pasta recipes
Ingredients
- 500 g Linguini
- 500 g (+- 1lb) mushrooms sliced
- 2 leeks finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
- juice of ½ lemon
- salt & pepper to taste
- fresh oregano to serve optional
- Parmesan for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the linguine. Cook for +- 10 minutes until al dente.
- Meanwhile, in a large sauce pan, fry the mushrooms and leeks until all the liquid from the mushrooms have evaporated and the mushrooms have started to brown (+- 5-7 minutes). Add the garlic and oregano and fry for another minute.
- Add the cream and lemon juice and season to taste.
- Drain the linguine, reserve 1 cup of water and add to the sauce. Add a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water and toss to coat the linguine in the sauce. Serve with extra cracked black pepper and a few oregano leaves.
Great recipe! Can’t wait to try it!
Just made this for a Saturday lunch, left out cream and added a little corn, no leeks so used red onion and a little less lemon juice than indicated. My hubby ate the entire thing, so easy and totally interchangeable with other veggies. Also, at the end added a little red pepper just to spice up my metabolism. This will become a top ten recipe in my house!
I made this for dinner tonight. IT WAS SOOO SIMPLE AND DELICIOUS. I didn’t have leeks, so instead I used green onions and basil leaves. I also added Parmesan cheese.
This was so simple. This recipes reminds of several fancy dishes you could order at a restaurant. I will definitely be making this again!
Mika, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
excellent flavour of the portebellini mushrooms. However in following the order I found the leeks took less time to cook than the mushrooms and became mushy. Also there was very little sauce in the end for the pasta. I would recommend adding more cream and butter to make it a more creamy consistency.
Heather, you’ll see in the photo that the pasta isn’t heavily coated with sauce, which was intentional. I am the type of person who really loves a lot of sauce on my pasta but sometimes I like it *just* coated so that the pasta is lighter but still flavourful. Glad you tried the recipe and liked it.
i’m not vegetarian but i am a poor college student and I don’t like buying meat!
so a delicious bowl of pasta fixes that. thanks!
Tobi: I think mushrooms are such a fantastic substitute for mushrooms and the fact that they are cheaper than meat is such a bonus! 🙂
Such a small list of ingredients for a delicious looking dish. I love garlic mushrooms.
I’d love for your to submit them to Vegolicious, a vegetarian food photo gallery where readers can browse beautiful photos to discover new recipes and wonderful blogs. If you would like to share this recipe with our readers please submit a photo along with a link to this post.
Vegolicious : My favourite recipes are ones with very few ingredients. Thanx for the tip! 🙂
You could probably very very very easily add chicken to this meal I bet, if you wanted it meaty. It sounds delish and definately on my “recipes to try” list 🙂
Leigh, you could also add bacon but I really like the simplicity of having no meat in this. It also makes it a lot easier to cook.
This sounds like delicious, but like Alex, I’m wondering what fat you’ve used for the shrooms and leeks. Butter? Olive oil? It’s not as if we can’t wing it on our own of course, but curious minds need to know. I think either would be tasty.
Alex and Kate : I used a regular Canola oil to fry my mushrooms. I really like that it has an unobtrusive flavor. If I wasn’t trying to watch my weight, I would fry them in butter though. 🙂
I cannot tell you how wonderful your recipes for mushrooms are. My husband and I have been shopping for all different kinds of mushrooms. We eat them almost every day either in a salad or just fried in butter on the side. They are so good for you and I thank you for the easy recipes that you send to my inbox. Thanks so much…..
Mushrooms are the perfect ingredient for vegetarian meals… my meatless monday’s always include mushrooms…. I find they fill you up and leave you satisfied like meat does. I love how simple this recipe is… in fact, it uses ingredients that I often have on hand. Thanks for sharing!
– Brittany
What sort of oil did you fry the mushrooms and leeks in?
It looks so good and so easy! I agree on the Meatless thing, I’m not vegetarian and I love meat, but a veggie meal is so light and yet so satisfying. Thanks for the inspiration! Beautiful pics btw!
I’m sorry to say that I am one of those “chicken is a veg” people. My husband always likes to say that he could very easily be vegetarian, but when I tried to introduce vegie dishes to our menu 4 times a week he complained! I was very surprised. Sometimes you just can’t win with these men…