Mushroom Carbonara — what to do with “mushroom meat”

Mushroom Carbonara — what to do with “mushroom meat”

One of our forays into online groceries landed us with a whole container of “mushroom meat” –or essentially wood mushrooms as meat substitutes. Most of our cooking experiences with this type of mushroom have been with shitake mushrooms, but other wood mushrooms such as trumpet mushrooms are also readily available, at least in vegan/vegetarian stores. With such a large quantity of mushroom meat from The Vegan Grocer Ph, we had more than enough for several dishes…or failed experiments. True to the saying “third time’s the charm”, this third attempt at cooking with mushroom meat came out better than we expected. 

Mushroom Meat set out to defrost

We derived this recipe from Molly Baz’s take on mushroom carbonara. Of course, we made some revisions based on what was on hand in the kitchen. 

Team Glasses Tweaks: 

1. Instead of using button mushrooms, we used the mushroom meat
2. We used spaghetti noodles instead of orecchiette
3. We omitted the shallots and parsley. 

Ingredients list: 

1. Mushroom meat (several handfuls only)
2. 4-5 garlic cloves (more if desired)
3. Spaghetti noodles (or another pasta shape if desired)
4. Olive oil
5. 3 eggs
6. Black pepper
7. Salt
8. Grated parmesan cheese

How to Cook This Dish

1. Soak the mushroom  meat for about half an hour, then rinse thoroughly. This helps reduce the “earthy” flavors of the wood mushrooms. After rinsing the mushrooms, chop them as desired. 
2. Start cooking the pasta. Make sure to save pasta water when draining it. 
3. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and grated parmesan cheese together to form a smooth sauce. Stir in black pepper. Set aside. 
4. Smash and mince the garlic. 
5. In a large pan heat the olive oil and pour in the mushrooms. Cook till the mushrooms are browned and have released quite a bit of their liquid. This may take about 15 minutes. 
6. Lower the heat and stir the garlic into the mushrooms. Cook until the garlic’s aroma is released, and the garlic is softened. Season with salt and pepper
7. Stir in the cooked pasta and about a cup of the pasta water into the mushrooms. Toss to coat the pasta and reduce the liquid. Take the pan off the heat and let cool for a minute. 

Tossing the pasta and mushrooms

1. Get another cup of the pasta water and stir it into the reserved egg and cheese mixture till smooth. Then pour the egg and cheese sauce over the pasta and mushrooms. Toss till the noodles are coated in this thick sauce, adding more pasta water if necessary. 
2. Season with salt if needed, serve immediately with more grated parmesan and freshly ground pepper. 

Total cooking time: About an hour, counting the soaking of the mushrooms. 

It is quite possible that this recipe would go well with other meat substitutes that would give a better flavor balance (without any need for soaking or other prior preparations). Nut-based cheese can be substituted too for this recipe.

Now off to munch!