Baked Unstuffed Shells with Oyster Mushrooms and Butternut Squash

Oyster Mushroom Unstuffed Shells in a Butternut Squash Cream Sauce. LET’S GO.

Ingredients inspire me, as I hope they inspire you. I had my eyes on oyster mushrooms and strongly felt I had to develop a dish to highlight them.

Baked, unstuffed shells in a cheesy, butternut squash cream sauce seemed like a good way to go about it. The pasta is full of sauteed oyster mushrooms and aromatics, not to mention a heavenly bacon mushroom & herb crumb with melted mozzarella cheese. This is totally doable for dinner tonight. Dare I say you may even win over self-proclaimed mushroom haters…

Where do I find oyster mushrooms?

Oyster mushrooms are actually very popular; however, many supermarket brands import their product from places as far away as China! That’s a long trip (not to mention fossil fuel) for a dinner date. I purchase oyster mushrooms from Bloom Shroomery in Crystal Lake, Illinois. They are a family run farm specializing in gourmet mushrooms. I’m lucky to live near them, but they also offer delivery and sell at farmers markets. Mushroom farms are growing (literally!) so, I encourage you to do some digging on the wonderful world called the internet to find growers in your area.

Mushroom Cooking Tips.

#1 question of all time:

How do I clean mushrooms?

I don’t. Simple as that. I brush dirt off if there is any and continue on my way. Restaurant chef’s do the same thing. Mushrooms are very porous and will become a soggy, unpleasant mess if you wash them.

Instead of water, offer mushrooms something better to soak up. In this dish the mushrooms are cooked in bacon fat, aromatics and white wine.

If the mushrooms have any hard, woody ends, toss them or save them for stock.

Try to slice evenly so the mushrooms cook evenly. Large chunks won’t have the right texture for this pasta dish.

Recipe Breakdown.

Unstuffed Shells with bacon mushroom crumb

Get ahead.

Good news, all you organized, type A folks. Get ahead by roasting the butternut squash the night before or morning of. I add a little oil to encourage caramelization. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds, discard or save as a snack, and roast skin side up, flesh side down until the flesh is very soft. A knife should be able to pierce right through.

Combine cooled (it’s okay if it’s warm) butternut squash cooked flesh with softened creamcheese. The color should remind you of a creamsicle.

But first, topping.

Sounds backwards but yes, we will be starting with the topping. Make sure to use an oven safe cooking vessel. A 15.5-inch brasier is perfect. Rending bacon fat and then frying sage and rosemary sets the stage for ultimate flavor. Transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate to soak up excess grease. Fry the sage and rosemary for a few minutes. Layers of flavor happening here. Once they are fried, lay them to cool with the bacon. Mushrooms get in on the party, frying up in the bacon fat. After a few minutes panko is added along with salt and red chili flakes. Once cooled a bit, destem the herbs and crumble with the bacon, add all that goodness back to the panko. The crumb topping will be set aside while the rest of the dish is prepared.

Serve unstuffed shells straight from the pan

More Mushrooms.

With oyster mushrooms as beautiful as these I had to incorporate them more than just once. In butter more mushrooms are caramelized along with thinly sliced shallots. I suggest for the water to start boiling to cook the shells and to preheat the oven to 375F if it isn’t already on. This part of the recipe goes quick.

Once the mushrooms and shallots are looking beautifully browned, add seasonings and then deglaze with wine. Adding seasoning when the aromatics are warm allows them to absorb the flavor better. The wine should reduce by half, leaving a glossiness to the dish but not a ton of liquid. The butternut squash cream cheese mixture will look thick but right after mixing it into the aromatics, lower the heat and add the half and half, we don’t want it to curdle. Parmesan is just screaming to join in on this. On low, add the cheese and mix until it melts.

IMPORTANT. Save some pasta water. The starches will help thicken the sauce. Add it little by little until it is truly saucy.

Don’t forget to add the crumb to the top of the pasta. On top of that, grated mozzarella finishes this masterpiece. Cook in the oven until melted and golden. Serve right out of the pot.