Many moons ago, I used to work in a Japanese cafe that specialized in souffle pancakes, souffles, french toasts, and Yoshoku (a genre the fat kid in me LOVES). I'd be eyeing the hot side of the kitchen from my cool, relatively calmer pastry corner, curiously trying to match the savoury scents wafting over with the swift motions of the cooks on the other side. The magic ingredient? A mysterious seasoning pack dubbed "magic powder" by the kitchen. :b Here's my version of Japanese mushroom pasta, cooked without any magic seasoning but equally addictive. The pasta finishes cooking in a dashi-mushroom mixture, soaking up all the savoury sweetness right to its core. Pasta, but make it Japanese.

Ingredients

• 125g dried spaghetti or pasta of your choice

• 1 garlic clove, minced

• 1/4 onion, sliced

• 350 to 400g fresh, assorted mushrooms

• 200ml dashi (instant or from the bag is totally fine)

• 30ml mirin

• 15ml sake

• 15 to 30ml light soy sauce (adjust to taste)

• 10g unsalted butter

• black pepper, to taste

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, as needed

• To serve, onsen egg (optional) *See notes

Directions

• Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and salt it generously. Toss your pasta in, cooking it for only half the time stated in the pack.

• While that's going on, you can settle your shrooms. Depending on the variety you've got, pull it apart (shimeiji, maitakes, enoki) or slice them (buttons, porta, shiitake). Set aside.

• Set your half cooked pasta aside, reserving a couple tablespoons of the pasta cooking water.

• You'll need a large saucepan placed over high heat, then add in a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Toss in your shrooms and onions to sear, letting them go until nicely browned. Add 1 Tablespoon of the light soy, a pinch fo salt, and the garlic.

• Add your dashi stock, mirin, sake, a Tablespoon more light soy (adjust this to taste), some of the pasta cooking liquid, and bring that to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, add your half cooked pasta in. The pasta will finish cooking in this flavourful liquid. Toss everything around now and then to ensure the sauce gets evenly distributed. If it looks too dry at any point, just trickle in more of that reserved pasta cooking water.

• Once your pasta is al dente, it's done! Taste and adjust for seasoning.

• Plate up! If serving with an onsen egg or fried egg, use the back of a spoon to make an indentation, creating a pasta nest of sorts, then slide your egg onto the nest! Garnish with herbs of your choice (i did not have any on hand when I shot this) and freshly ground black pepper.