This is definitely a comfort food for me. It combines my love of egg noodles with creamy filling and a lovely nutty Grueyer topping. It comes compliments of Rachael Ray's 365: No Repeats.

Cream of Mushroom Sauce
1 T extra-virgin olive oil
2 T unsalted butter
12 button mushrooms, chopped
2 T all-purpose flour
1 cup chicken stock or broth
1 cup whole milk or cream
1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg (ground works)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Casserole
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 portobello mushroom caps, halved and thinly sliced
1/2 lb fresh mixed wild mushrooms
1 T fresh thyme leaves, finely chopped (from 4 sprigs)
1/3 cup dry white whine
1 pound extra-wide egg noodles
1-2 T unsalted butter, softened
3/4 lb Gruyere or Emmentaler cheese, shredded
3 T fresh chives

Directions:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil fro the egg noodles.

To make the mushroom sauce, heat a medium sauce pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil and the butter. When the butter melts, add the chopped button mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, until just tender. Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the chicken stock and bring to a bubble, then stir in the whole milk. Reduce the heat to low and gently simmer. Season the sauce with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

To make the casserole, heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the 2 T olive oil then the shallots and mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms for about 8 minutes, or until tender. Season with thyme, salt and pepper and deglaze the pan with the wine. Reduce the heat to medium low and let the liquid cook off.

Preheat the broiler to high.

While the mushrooms cook, drop the egg noodles into the boiling water, salt the water, and cook the noodles al dente. Drain the noodles and return them to the hot pot. Add the creamy sauce to the pot and toss the noodles to coat in the sauce.

Lightly coat a casserole dish with the softened butter, then transfer the cream of mushroom noodles ot the dish and top with the mushroom ragout and shredded cheese. Place the casserole under the vroiler and melt and bubble the cheese until brown at the edges. Garnish with the chives.
As you can see, we were fresh out of chives. Who cares? It was still ooey gooey delicious. :o)
Enjoy!

--Rach