A good pasta dish really is one of my favorite things! There was a ton of purple shiso at the farmer’s market and decided to use some in this lovely and creamy pasta dish.
They’re generally pretty simple to make, come with a variety of different styles of sauces, flavors, shapes and textures. They are filling and they are satisfying; what’s not to like. I also love Shiso which is a type of Perilla Leaf in the min family of herbs! It has a lovely aroma and flavor that is kind of minty, citrusy, herbaceous and a bit bitter. During the late summer its easy to find massive bouquets of it at the Union Square Farmer’s Market, and that’s where this journey starts.
As I sat there with a giant bouquet of Shiso in my hand, I thought to myself: I should make a pasta with a Shiso Mornay sauce and Lemon Toasted Breadcrumbs. I went with it and here we are with this delicious kind of spin on Mac & Cheese.
For the breadcrumbs, we’re toasting off some Panko Bread Crumbs that I had on hand in olive oil and adding a good bit of lemon zest and some salt to finish them. The thicker Panko hold up nicely and gets an even lovelier texture when toasted. I like to toast mine on the darker side but you can also go for a lighter coloring/flavor if you prefer.
Note: You can make these breadcrumbs ahead of time and keep them in an airtight container for about a week. They’re great to have around for toppings and you can play around with a bunch of different flavor pairings.
A Mornay sauce is essentially just a French Béchamel with the addition of some grated Swiss Gruyère or Italian Parmesean Cheese. However, for this sauce, we’re using a French Comté, also sometimes known as ‘French Gruyère’ because of the two’s similarities. Flavor wise, there isn’t a massive difference in their aged forms, however Comté tends to be a bit sweeter and fruitier in it’s younger forms. For this pasta, feel free to use either if you have a preference or one is easier to find than the other.
Like many good pastas, this dish comes together in just around 20ish minutes and is quite delicious. I particularly like the flavor and texture pop from the lemon breadcrumbs and an generally just always happy to see Shiso having a moment in western cooking.
I hope you enjoy!
Cheers,
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