Mushrooms, Garlic & Butter - oh my!

Let me tell you something about me; I just really, really like mushrooms. They're the most amazing of vegetables, and if you add garlic and butter and cheese to the mix and serve it up for me, then I will probably just marry you right here. So many awkward conversations in restaurants, you have no idea.

I've made sauteed mushrooms a few times (such as in this Mushroom Lasagne and in this Cheeseburger Casserole) and I love them like I love disco, but sometimes I find that they get a bit drowned by the other ingredients in the recipe. So I wanted to make something which was all about their buttery, mushroomy goodness. I basically just made this up, although I bet I'm not the first person to put this all together. It's not groundbreaking, but it is so, so, SO good. Exactly what I wanted it to be - garlicky, mushroomy, buttery and creamy.

Garlic & Cream Mushroom Pasta
30g Lurpak Lighter
250g Light Mozzarella
300g Pasta
6-8 x fresh garlic cloves
2 red onions
200g Spinach
4 x punnets mushrooms (about 1000g)
200ml reduced fat creme fraiche
Salt & pepper, to taste

Serves 6 / 9 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per portion
1. Boil some water and pop your pasta onto cook according to the package instructions.
2. Slice up all your mushrooms (which will take forever, sorry) and your red onions.
3. If you are not using pre-peeled garlic cloves (they are the best), peel those too so they are ready to chuck in as you're cooking.
4. Heat up your pan and add a little bit of your butter, one of your crushed cloves of garlic and a handful of your mushrooms and onions. You may need to add a splash of water to stop them sticking.
5. Stir the mushrooms around with a wooden spoon until they are soft and dark, and add a little salt. Then remove from the pan and add the next handful with a bit more butter and more garlic.
6. Continue frying the mushrooms and onions, handful by handful, along with a little butter at a time and a clove of garlic each time you throw them in, until everything is cooked.

7. Drain your mushroom and onion mixture (but save the juice) and re-add to your pan.
8. Drain your pasta if you haven't already, pop back in the pan (heat off) and then add the liquid you drained from the mushrooms. You don't have to do this, my hope was that it would absorb into the pasta!
9. Add your spinach and cook with the lid on, stirring frequently, until it is all wilted.
10. Pour in the creme fraiche, and then chop up your mozzarella and stir that through. I didn't let it melt entirely so there were still chunks left. Yum.
11. Drain the pasta again (again preserving the liquid) and add the pasta to the mixture. Then add as much of the fluid as you want until the sauce is how you like it (mine was slightly too runny because I added it all, but it was still yummy)
12. Serve with a sprinkling of black pepper and prepare not to snog anyone for a while, because you are now in garlic central, my friend. But it's worth it.