Recipe 57: Mushroom Taco Mac

It felt like a while since we’d had a good mushroom recipe on here, and I’m not sure we’ve ever done a truly tex-mex flavored dish.  So why not combine the two?

Mushroom Taco Mac (from The Mushroom  Council)

Ingredients

• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups dried whole grain elbow pasta, enriched (substitute penne or other types of pasta if preferred) (we used small corn shells)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced or quartered
• 4 teaspoons taco seasoning mix, low sodium (if available) (We used a homemade mix)
• 1/2 cup prepared salsa (ours was mild because I’m a wuss, but use what you like)
• 1 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded (ours was full-fat, because that’s how we roll at the Casa de Mac)

Directions

Add water to pot and bring to a boil. Add pasta, cook uncovered for 10-13 minutes, or until pasta has reached desired firmness.

While pasta is cooking, heat a sauté pan on medium, add oil and swirl to coat the bottom of pan. Add mushrooms and 2 teaspoons taco seasoning mix, sauté 5 minutes.

When pasta is done, drain water and return to pot. Heat on low while stirring in salsa, mushrooms and remaining 2 teaspoons taco seasoning mix for 2 minutes or less.

Divide into four portions, top each with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese.  We just mushed the cheese in here, then divided things up.

Verdict: 4.5/5

Very filling without feeling too heavy.  Felt almost more like a casserole that just happened to have cheese and noodles rather than a mac itself.  Flavors blended well.  Not too spicy.  A solid choice overall.

Loverman and I served this to two guests, both of whom like Tex Mex and one of whom is a vegetarian.  I was received well by both our guests.  I think I’ll had a Tex-Mex tag in addition to faux-ethnic.