Adam D'Sylva's farfalle in a Northern Italian woodsman's sauce of porcini, flat mushrooms, shimeji and Ligurian olives, finished with grated pecorino and chopped parsley. The dried porcini lend deep umami; the olives add brine and bite.

Boscaiola (literally the woodcutter's wife) is the Tuscan and Umbrian mushroom sauce that lives on every trattoria menu in the colder months. The original is built around the autumn wild mushroom haul (porcini, chanterelles, hedgehog mushrooms); the modern home version uses cultivated flat mushrooms and shimeji bulked up with dried porcini for depth.

The porcini soak is the technique. Cover dried porcini in hot water for twenty minutes; the liquor that results is liquid gold for the sauce. Squeeze the rehydrated mushrooms dry, slice them, add them to the pan with the fresh mushrooms, and pour the strained soaking liquid in as the deglaze.

Ligurian olives are the small, brine-cured, mild olives from the same coast as pesto and focaccia. Substitute Castelvetrano or a small green Niçoise if you can't find them. Pecorino rather than parmesan for the sharper, sheepier note. A glass of Sangiovese or Chianti alongside. Bread for the bowl, obviously.