Paccheri with Maitake Basil Sauce Is a Delicious Weeknight Meal

With school back in session and schedules filling up, simple pastas have been getting the nod and more elaborate dishes have been getting the boot.

But just because it's simple doesn't mean it has to be boring and this fantastic quick pasta is a mouthful of delicious fun. The umami of the mushrooms and sweetness of the onions lends a bundle of flavor to the light cream sauce, while the fennel pepper flakes give spicy bursts of flavor reminiscent of biting into an Italian sausage.

The pasta, which looks like giant Rigatoni is called Paccheri and is well suited to holding onto chunky sauces like this. That's because the tubular shape and broad surface area helps keep the mushrooms evenly distributed so you get the goods with each bite of pasta. The particular variant of paccheri is called paccheri millerighe which has ribs on the exterior surface which further help the sauce cling to the pasta.

I've used maitake mushrooms here because I love their meaty flavor, but any flavorful fall mushrooms such as porcinis or shiitake will work great.