Puffball Fettuccine Alfredo

Fettuccine Alfredo is one of those timeless comfort food dishes, as beloved to eat from a bowl while cozied up on the couch as it is served as an elegant dish for entertaining. It's the simple combination of rich cream, intense cheese, and toothsome pasta that makes it so memorable. Well, when you add the subtle flavour of puffball mushroom, you've added a whole new layer of umami to this already amazing pasta dish. If you're lucky enough to get your hands on a giant puffball, try it in this decadent Puffball Fettuccine Alfredo. (Skip to recipe.)

When the mushroom gods (a.k.a. my friend Alex) drop a giant puffball off on your front doorstep, you bow down and give thanks. You gratefully accept the gift, and then you get to work making all kinds of delicious things to eat out of this weird, spongy, white ball that looks more like a misshapen dinosaur egg than a very special mushroom delicacy.

What is a Giant Puffball Mushroom and How the Heck Do You Cook It?!

The puffball (Calvatia Gigantea) is a mushroom hunter's dream. It's easy to identify and absolutely delicious to eat. There are a few non-edible lookalikes, but a true, edible puffball has two characteristics you need to look for.

1. You need to cut it open vertically through the center, and the inside needs to be pure white. Any other colour and it is not a true puffball or it is a true puffball but it's already started to ripen past the edible stage and is too 'funky' to eat.
2. It needs to be a solid, even flesh throughout the inside with no signs of a stem or gills. It should look like a large, evenly fine-textured, solid sponge on the inside, slightly damp. If there are even faint markings of gills or a stem, do not eat it as it is not a true puffball and could be a toxic amanita muscaria or other inedible mushroom.

The good thing is that any toxic lookalikes will not grow bigger than a fist, so if you make sure the puffball you pick is larger than a fist and is pure solid white inside, you know you have a safe, edible, most delicious mushroom you can eat.

Puffballs (Calvatia Giganteas) are found from spring until fall (April to October) in lawns, meadows, grasslands, and at the edge of forests. The can easily grow to volleyball size or larger, filled with solid, edible mushroom 'meat'. The outer rind or peel should be removed, as it can cause tummy upset in some people, and then the whole inside of the mushroom is edible. It's like a big soft mushroom marshmallow, with a texture similar to tofu but more soft and silky. It has a delicious mushroom flavour and can be prepared in a variety of ways, just about anywhere regular mushrooms are used. Slice it, cube it, or shred it for use in different recipes. To store the puffball, slice off the rough bottom, and set the puffball onto a plate. It will keep, whole and uncovered for 4 to 5 days. If it is cut, the pieces will also keep, loosely covered, in the fridge for that long.

To freeze puffball, cube or shred the puffball, then sauté it in a bit of butter or oil until the moisture is all cooked off. (All mushrooms need to be cooked before they are frozen to stop the enzyme activity that causes them to deteriorate.) Cool the cooked puffball, and then put it into freezer bags in the portions you will want to use. Squeeze out the air and seal the bags. Keep in the freezer for up to 6 months. Use your frozen and thawed puffball in soups, stews, casseroles, scrambled eggs, stir fries, etc.

The most simple way to prepare a puffball is to peel it, cut it in half-inch slices, and either dip it into seasoned flour and fry it, or flour, egg, and breadcrumb it like a schnitzel and fry it. But you can also use this versatile fungus in a wide variety of dishes, just about anywhere you'd use regular mushrooms, but in even more interesting ways because of its unique shape and size.

Check out these other delicious puffball recipes I've made:

6 Delicious Puffball Recipes (Puffball Parmigiana, Sweet & Sour Puffball, Puffball Pizza, Puffball with Lemon & Garlic, Puffball Fries, Cheesy Puffball Pasta Bake)

Easy Crustless Puffball Pie

Puffball Patties

Puffball Schnitzel with Sage and Onion Gravy

Puffball Miso Bites

Let's make a Creamy, Dreamy Puffball Fettucine Recipe

After you've cut your puffball through the center to make sure it's pure, unmarked white inside, you're good to go. Now you can pull off or cut off the outer peel.

Then cut it into larger chunks, and shred the puffball on a cheese grater or the large holes of a box grater.

Sauté it in butter with some finely chopped onion.

Stir it a good helping of luscious cream, a grinding of pepper, and nutmeg. Cook some fettuccine until it is nicely 'al dente' and add it to that creamy, mushroomy mixture, along with a good handful of grated Parmesan cheese.

Toss gently, and you've got a decadent, panful of gourmet Puffball Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo. Add a bit of pasta cooking water if it needs to be thinned out. So creamy, rich, and delicious.

Each strand of pasta is coated in that silky Parmesan cream, with soft little nubbles of puffball nestled and clinging to the strands in every heavenly bite. The puffball shreds just seem to melt into the cream and add a sublime silkiness to the dish, bringing a delicate umami mushroom flavour that sings in harmony with that simple cream and pasta.

A big bowl of this makes a decadent and comforting dinner, or serve it as a delicious and unique-flavoured first course.

It is food of the gods.

* * * * *

Kitchen Frau Notes: If you're not lucky enough to find a giant puffball (and I realize this is a rare culinary find) you can still make a Mushroom Fettucine Alfredo - just shred some large button mushrooms on a grater and substitute those instead. They won't have the same softness of puffballs, but will still add a delicious mushroom flavour to the creamy pasta dish.

Fettuccine Alfredo with Puffball Mushroom

• 340 grams fettuccine pasta (gluten free if necessary - I like Barilla brand)
• 4 cups (300gms) peeled & coarsely shredded puffball
• 2 tablespoons butter
• ½ medium onion, finely diced
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1½ cups (360ml) heavy cream/whipping cream
• ¼ teaspoon pepper, plus more to serve
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• ¾ cup (110gms) finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more to serve

Peel the puffball and coarsely shred it on the large holes of a box grater. Set it aside.

Set a large pot of water, seasoned with 1 teaspoon salt, on to boil for the pasta. Cook it one minute less than the package directions say for 'al dente' pasta.

Once you've set the pasta water on to boil, prepare the alfredo sauce.

Heat the butter in a large wide skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Sauté the onion until translucent, stirring occasionally, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the shredded puffball and the ½ teaspoon of sea salt, and cook it, stirring some more, for about 5 minutes, until the puffball is cooked through and any excess water has evaporated. You don't want the puffball to brown at all - just to stay white and get cooked.

Turn the heat to low and add the whipping cream, pepper, and nutmeg. Leave the puffball/cream mixture to warm up slowly on low heat while the pasta finishes cooking.

When the pasta is ready, scoop out a cupful of the cooking water and set it aside. Drain the pasta, then add it to the cream mixture along with the Parmesan cheese.

Toss and stir the pasta in the sauce with two forks until it is all coated and the puffball is relatively evenly distributed.

Add more salt or pepper if needed. Add as much of the reserved cooking water as needed to thin out the sauce to a creamy consistency (it thickens up as it sits).

Serve immediately with fresh black pepper to grind over it and fresh parmesan to shave over it..

Serves 4 as a main course, or 6-8 as an appetizer course.

Guten Appetit!

 

Want to receive new Kitchen Frau recipes directly to your email? Sign up here and you’ll get a handy and useful kitchen tip along with each recipe, too.  (No spam ever.)

If you like my recipes, follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and Facebook. You’d make my day!

PIN IT HERE to save the recipe for later:

You might also like:

Fettuccine 'Herbonara'

Pink Fettuccine with Beet, Smoked Salmon, and Feta

Pasta Aglio e Olio with Tuna and Olives

Pasta with Morel Mushrooms in a Delicate Cream Sauce