Pasta in mushroom sauce with poached egg and white asparagus

Name: Pasta in mushroom sauce with poached egg and white asparagus
Yield: Serves 4 as a Starter (Or 2 as a Main Course)
Ingredients: 4 large eggs; 35 g Parmesan cheese; 1 tsp white wine vinegar; 50 ml vegetable stock; 150 g field mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced; 250 ml double cream; 200 g mezzi tubetti or macaroni; 2-3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle; sea salt and black pepper; 12 white asparagus spears, trimmed and halved; baby watercress sprigs

Preparation info

Serves
4
as a Starter

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Gourmet Food for a Fiver

By Jason Atherton

Published 2010

About

THIS IS MY TAKE ON MACARONI CHEESE - A CREAMY MUSHROOM SAUCE AND PARMESAN SHAVINGS REPLACE THE USUAL CHEESE SAUCE. I SERVE IT WITH A POACHED EGG - THE CREAMY YOLK MELDS BEAUTIFULLY WITH THE EARTHY MUSHROOMS. A LOVELY VEGETARIAN DISH THAT’S ALSO GREAT FOR BRUNCH.

Ingredients

12 white asparagus spears, trimmed and halved
sea salt and black pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzl

Starter
Main course
Brunch
Pasta
Vegetarian

Method

To cook the asparagus, bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add the asparagus and simmer until tender, about 7 minutes. Remove with tongs and season with salt. Keep warm.
Add 1 tbsp olive oil to the asparagus cooking water and bring back to the boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, heat 1-2 t