A quick 30-minute meal with a few simple ingredients, Feta Mushroom Pasta is a no-fuss weeknight meal. Greens, mushrooms, and a little bit of feta, your family will love this quick and easy meal.
This pasta dish was on our meal plan this past week. It was truly a 30-minute meal and fit perfectly into our schedule. Kids loved it too. Feta adds so much flavor, you really only need a little bit to bring the meal to life. Each serving includes a healthy dose of protein (from the mushrooms as well as the feta) and greens.
Why this recipe works
This is an ideal weeknight meal since the complete dish takes little more time than it takes to boil the water and cook the pasta. True story!
just 2 basic steps:
- While the water comes to a boil, get the vegetables together.
- While the pasta is cooking, saute the mushrooms and garlic.
A small amount of milk or cream adds a little bit of body and silkiness to the finished dish. I usually use 10% cream, because we are weird that way and that is all I usually have on hand but 2% or whole milk works too and will make the finished dish a bit lighter.
Pasta water is your secret to the finished dish.
Make sure you salt the pasta water! ... and SAVE IT BEFORE DRAINING THE PASTA
Adding a little pasta water to the finished dish and tossing a few times over the heat will thicken the sauce and just bring everything together. Pasta water adds the littlest bit of starch and salt. It really makes all the difference between a successful pasta dish and just a bowl of noodles tossed with a few veggies.
Trust me using the pasta cooking water brings this together.
💡Tip! Just before draining the pasta, I use a pyrex measuring cup and scoop out about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water. You may not need that much, but make sure you save it before you drain the pasta.
💡Tip! So I don't forget to save some of the pasta cooking water, I put my pyrex measuring cup next to the stove and burner that the pasta is cooking. Usually this helps prompt me to save some.
How to get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes
Your game plan:
- Put the water on to boil.
- Wash the spinach, if it's needed, and set it to dry.
- Clean and slice the mushrooms.
- Once the water has come to a boil, add the pasta and put a large (big enough to hold the finished dish) skillet on medium-high heat.
- Once the skillet is hot, melt the butter and add the garlic and thyme. Add the mushrooms, sprinkle with black pepper, and cook until tender.
- By the time the mushrooms are tender, the pasta will be done, save about 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the rest.
- Add the pasta to the mushrooms. Add the spinach and toss to cook the spinach, about 2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and add the feta and lemon juice and zest. Eat!
more quick and easy pasta dishes you might like
- chickpea and olive pasta
- green pea & feta pasta
- summer pasta salad with tofu
- swiss chard spaghetti with blackened cherry tomatoes
Fusilli with Mushrooms and Feta
Ingredients
- 340 gram box of fusilli
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
- 300 g cremini mushrooms sliced button mushrooms are a good substitute
- 100 g shiitake mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 bunch spinach washed, trimmed, rough chopped
- 2 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon of lemon zest
- ⅓ cup feta cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta in boiling salted water according to package directions. Save ½ cup of the pasta cooking liquid for the sauce.
- In a large skillet melt butter, add thyme and garlic and saute for 30 seconds - don't let the garlic brown. Immediately add mushrooms and black pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes until mushrooms are tender.
- Sprinkle mushrooms with flour and stir for 1 minute. Gradually pour in milk and the ½ cup of pasta water, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer. Simmer and stir until slightly thickened - about 4 minutes.
- Stir in pasta and spinach. Let spinach wilt slightly - about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, squeeze lemon juice over dish, add lemon zest and feta and toss well. Serve.
Tiffany Myers says
Absolutely delicious! Both my husband and son told me several times how yummy it was,. Thank you for another winner!
Trish @infinebalance says
Yay! Love comments like this. Made my day. 🙂