Cooking Clutter Recipe #2: Mitch's Mushroom Spinach Pasta

Our first reader-submitted recipe.

You might remember Mitch from Cooking Clutter Kitchen #3. This week, Mitch is back! We’re excited to feature his pasta fire fire pasta recipe featuring spinach, mushrooms, and some surprises.

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Hey Cooking Clutter,

Mitch here. I almost started a fire while making some spinach and mushrooms. Thought you might be interested (since the "clutter" actually got "cooked." Haha).

Recipe: Sautéed Mushrooms and Spinach on Pressure-cooked Meat Sauce

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There are three parts to this dish. They stand on their own well but are next level when combined into one dish. This recipe was improvised based on guidance from David Grotto's book "The Best Things You Can Eat." Essentially, I was trying to eat more white mushrooms, spinach, carrots, and chicken. These foods are packed with nutrients and the book does a great job hyping them up.

PSA: go for a terry pot holder over a loose towel when working on a gas stove.

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While preparing the spinach, I almost started a fire in the kitchen. I had been using a towel to hold the lid over the mushroom and spinach pan. While tending to the pasta (and my beer) I draped the towel into the gas fire. Fortunately I noticed before it got out of hand. In the future I will use a terry pot holder for pan lid management. Thanks Mom for adding this essential tool to my kitchen!

Ingredients*

Sautéed mushrooms and spinach

• White mushrooms, 1 package

• Baby spinach, 4 quarts

• Olive oil, salt, pepper

Pressure cooked chicken + veggies

• Chicken breasts

• 2 lbs carrots chopped in food processor

• 3 bell peppers chopped in food processor

• 4 oz tomato paste

• Olive oil, salt, pepper, ground ginger, turmeric

• Bonus points: add chicken liver (mega nutrient loaded)

Pasta

• Any pasta you like

*All quantities, vegetables, and spices are rough suggestions

Method

These items go well together and can be co-prepared to optimize for chef efficiency and hot-serving.

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Instant Pot: Chicken + veggies

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1. Prepare veggies. Any veggies will do, I prefer lower-moisture veggies (I only use zucchini when I don't mind getting a soupy result). I like to grind carrots into a paste with the food processor.

2. Sauté. As the veggies are ready, get them into the Instant Pot under the "sauté" setting.

3. Add chicken. Sometimes I sauté the chicken for a bit before switching to pressure cook mode.

4. Pressure cook. Add a bit of water if the veggies have not already yielded enough to build some steam pressure. I usually set the pressure cooker to 35 minutes.

5. Let sit til ready. Prepare the other items during the pressure cook. It's fine if the timer goes off before the other items are ready. Just leave it in the pressure cooker, the pressure will slowly decrease but the food will continue to cook.

6. Open lid and serve. Be sure to vent any remaining steam first. You can eat alone or on top of pasta.

Stove 1: Mushroom and spinach

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1. Prepare mushrooms. I'm new to cooking white mushrooms. I like to wash them off and cut or twist off the stems. My father-in-law said some people prefer to just wipe off the mushrooms in order to avoid water-logging them. Also some people like to eat the stems. I like to cut the mushrooms into roughly quarter inch slices.

2. Sauté. Sauté with oil, salt, and pepper for 10 minutes. As needed, add water to deglaze the oil and juices.

3. Add spinach. Add spinach and heat until wilted. Add some water to produce steam and deglaze as needed. Putting the lid on the pan helps expedite the wilt.

4. Let sit til ready. Turn off the stove or set it to low.

5. Serve. This mixes with or tops-off the chicken and veggies well.

Stove 2: Pasta

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1. Boil water.

2. Add pasta.

3. Drain.

4. Let sit til ready.

5. Serve.

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Thank you Mitch for the recipe, and thank you for reading! If you want to share a recipe, story, or your kitchen with us, send us an email or fill out our submission form. See you next week!