Culture Food & Travel Interviews & Recipes News & features

An avant-garde recipe from Albert Adrià: Mushroom Spaghetti with a Porcini Pil-pil

An avant-garde recipe from Albert Adrià: Mushroom Spaghetti with a Porcini Pil-pil
An avant-garde recipe from Albert Adrià: Mushroom Spaghetti with a Porcini Pil-pil

Ahead of his 50 Days by Albert Adrià residence at Hotel Café Royal, starting on 12th February, chef Adrià shared an authentic avant-garde recipe with the readers of The Upcoming. Although it will take more precision than your usual home cooking, we guarantee a show-stopping effect for your dinner guests.

Mushroom Spaghetti with a Porcini Pil-pil

Serves: 4
Prep and cooking time: 2 hours

What you need:

For the mushroom spaghetti

600g oyster mushrooms

For the porcini mushroom broth

600g porcini mushrooms
200g mineral water
360g wastage of oyster mushrooms (from the first part of the elaboration)
Salt – to taste
Soft olive oil 0.4 – to taste

For the garlic oil

250g olive oil 0.4
6 cloves of garlic

For the mushrooms pil-pil

250g mushrooms broth (previous elaboration)
25g garlic oil (previous elaboration)
0.2g xanthan gum powder

Finish

5g chopped parsley
8g grated Parmesan cheese

What you need to do:

Preparation

  1. Mushroom spaghetti with a Porcini pil-pilCut the oyster mushrooms with the slicing machine on a perpendicular way with the razors at 3.5 in order to obtain perfect slices. Save the left parts for the broth. Square all the layers so they are the same size. Save the left parts for the mushroom broth.
  2. With a knife cut strips 12cm long and 0.5 cm wide.
  3. Store in a food box covered with wet paper.
  4. For the broth, in a casserole fry the porcini mushrooms with mild olive oil until they get golden brown.
  5. Add some mineral water and reduce with strong heat for 5 minutes.
  6. Sauté the oyster mushrooms in a wok with some oil until golden brown.
  7. Add the broth and reduce for 25 minutes at low heat. Season to taste and remove from the heat.
  8. Strain with a fine sieve and push with a spoon in order to obtain all the jus.
  9. Leave it to rest.
  10. For the garlic oil, put the crushed garlic with mild olive oil at slow heat for 10 minutes. When the garlic gets tender, remove it from the heat and rest apart. 
  11. For the pil-pil, add the xanthan to the porcini sauce and dilute it with a blender. Strain.
  12. Extract the remaining air with a vacuum packaging machine.
  13. Add the oil gradually to the thickened sauce.
  14. Mix with the blender until the sauce is emulsified.
  15. Rest the emulsion in a bottle in the fridge.

Finish and presentation

  1. On a casserole, add some oil and when hot, add 70g of spaghetti per person and stir-fry.
  2. Once the oyster mushrooms are cooked, season and add 50g per person of the porcini emulsion.
  3. Sprinkle chopped parsley and let it cook for a minute.
  4. Serve on a hot iron casserole and sprinkle a bit more of chopped parsley.

Top tip: As you add the parsley, make sure the spaghetti do not get dry. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese on a side.

The editorial unit

For further information about Adrià 50-day residence at Hotel Café Royal visit here.

More in Food & Drinks

Fortnum & Mason launches Do It Yourself spring workshops celebrating hands-on culinary skills and sustainability

Food & Travel Desk

Lloyds Bank and Six by Nico serve up homebuying advice with six-course dining event for first-time buyers

Food & Travel Desk

New wine and vinyl bar Sova brings Central and Eastern European flavours to Notting Hill

Food & Travel Desk

CeCe’s brings surreal Italian dining experience to Notting Hill this week

Food & Travel Desk

Mirazur marks 20th anniversary with special menu curated by Ferran Adrià

Food & Travel Desk

Edinburgh chef Roberta Hall McCarron and The Silver Birch’s Nathan Cornwell to host exclusive collaborative spring dinner in Chiswick

Food & Travel Desk

Leeds cocktail bar Tabula Rasa to headline one-night takeover at London’s Sambaroom

Food & Travel Desk

Taro to open tenth UK restaurant in Crystal Palace with exclusive updated menu

Food & Travel Desk

Top chefs and food leaders to gather at Virginia Park Lodge for Homegrown 2026 culinary retreat

Food & Travel Desk