mushroom pappardelle & beetroot and apple borscht

What to do when you've got two half-punnets of mushrooms in the fridge? It's Book Club tomorrow, so given I've got to sort out a starter as well this evening, we need something quick and easy, and preferably cheap as chips. Step forward Nigel Slater:


It has the added bonus of using the awful dried tagliatelle Ana bought last week, so double-thumbs up all round!

Dinner out the way, tonight's fun involves making a massive batch of beetroot and apple borscht - enough for lunch for me, and as a starter for five tomorrow night. Curiously for the first time my fingers don't end up totally purple, no idea why though...

Food of the Milos
It's a day of visiting and playing today, fuelled by the usual breakfast nibbles and boiled egg for lunch. So far so good, however our banker - last night's Indian style Rick Stein shepherd's pie - turns out to be a bit of a damp squib. He ate it, mainly because Ana spooned it into his mouth, but he was slightly perturbed by the colour, and it's less-than-normal moistness.

sources
mushroom pappardelle - Nigel Slater, Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries, p283
beetroot and apple borscht - Delicious, March 2010, p40