Julia Child said, don't crowd your mushrooms if you want them to brown nicely (ok, I learned this from the movie Julie & Julia, so what?) - but I disagree!
So do these folks, in fact. In practice, it always seemed to me that mushrooms end up leaking tons of moisture as they cook and virtually de-glaze themselves from the pan, negating the need for any cooking oil. And if you did use oil, the mushrooms would just absorb it too quickly.
My method isn't exactly like the French Culinary Institute guys, but I think it's effective. I just haphazardly dump mushrooms that I've washed in water into a dry pan. If the mushrooms are completely dry, great; if still a little wet, no big deal.
After a few minutes or so, they're done! No oil required, just a little salt and pepper.
For this particular dish, at this point I set the mushrooms aside and saute in the same pan some greens - here kale, but Swiss chard is also great. I add some of the pasta cooking water to de-glaze the pan (have to get all of the flavor the mushrooms left behind) and to wilt the greens a bit. I didn't add any in here, but minced garlic is good too.
Then I add the mushrooms and cooked pasta, toss all this with some olive oil and lemon juice. Lemon juice is key here. Salt and pepper to taste.
Top with a little pecorino.
This has been my go-to meal for a while now. Fairly quick to make, makes me eat a lot of greens, and very tasty. I like using arugula too, which doesn't require as much cooking as the heartier greens. In fact, no cooking at all - I just add arugula with the pasta and let it wilt from the residual heat.
I've tried making this with just greens, but mushrooms add a certain je ne sais quoi, as does a squeeze of lemon. Although it requires heating up my kitchen a bit, it's a refreshing dish, and probably what I'll be eating all summer.
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