This scrumptious carbonara with mushrooms is rich, indulgent, and has beautiful depth of flavour. We love it because it's easy, meatless, ready in 15 minutes, but it tastes like restaurant comfort food.
Prep Time5 minutesmins
Cook Time20 minutesmins
Total Time25 minutesmins
Course: pasta
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Carbonara with mushrooms
Servings: 4
Author: Katia
Ingredients
Pasta
½ lb(8oz/220 grams)spaghetti (or linguine, penne, fusilli...)
Eggs
1pasteurized egg
3pasteurized egg yolks *(see notes)
½ cup(50 grams)pecorino cheese, grated (parmesan is fine too)
¼ground black pepper
1Tbsppasta cooking water
Mushrooms
2Tbspolive oil, divided
1 lb (450 grams)mushrooms (portobello, cremini or shitake)
2large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 heapedtspsmoked paprika
¼fine salt, plus more to taste
¼black pepper, plus more to taste
3Tbspparsley leaves and tender stems, chopped
Instructions
Pasta
Bring a large pot of salty water to a boil.
In order to have pasta and mushrooms ready at the same time, start cooking the pasta when the mushrooms are browing in the pan.
Cook pasta until al dente, drain it, and reserve 1 cup of pasta cooking water (this will be used when you toss the pasta with mushrooms and egg mixture).
Egg mixture
Add one egg, egg yolks, grated cheese and black pepper to a small bowl.
Stir in 1 Tbsp of pasta cooking water and beat until well combinedl. Set aside.
Mushrooms
Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. When the oil starts shimmering add the mushrooms, stir and cook them over medium-high heat. The mushrooms will release their water, than the water evaporates and the mushrooms slowly get brown. The whole process take from 10 to 15 minutes.
When the mushrooms are tender and brown, add again 1 Tbsp of olive oil (the second one), salt, pepper, garlic and paprika. Stir to enhance all the flavors.
Add the drained pasta, the chopped parsley (reserve some for garnishing), toss well to combined, turn the heat off and remove the pan from the stove.
After 1 minute, add the egg mixture to the pan and toss to combine. You need some of the reserved cooking water during this step, add it gradually until the pasta creamy and moist. Before serving make sure you're happy wth the seasoning.
Serve straigh away with more freshly ground black pepper, chopped parsley and grated pecorino cheese. Enjoy.
Notes
Eggs: the recipe calls for 1 egg and 3 egg yolks, but for your convenience you feel free use 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk if you wish. Also, it's advisable to use pasteurized eggs.Salt: there's no need to add salt to the egg mixture, because both Pecorino cheese and Parmesan cheese are salty. But taste and adjust the seasonings of the mushrooms, and make sure you're happy with the seasoning of the final dish when it's time to serve.