Lactose Free Carbonara with Mushrooms
Lactose free carbonara with a creamy sauce made with mushrooms, raw eggs, nutritional yeast and parmesan cheese. No heavy cream needed to make this easy family dinner!
Ingredients
- ½ pound spaghetti - 220 g
- 2 tablespoons ghee or vegan butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 5 oz cremini mushrooms 1 cup - / 140 g
- 3 oz shiitake 1.5 cups 100 g
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- salt to taste
- 2 cloves minced garlic optional
- 3 eggs at room temperature - - 2 yolks + 1 whole egg
- ½ heaping cup grated pecorino cheese or parmesan
- 2 - 3 tbsps nutritional yeast
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
Instructions
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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. While the water is heating up.
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Prep the mushrooms. Discard the stems of shiitake. They are too tough to eat, but you should save them and add them to veggie broth that you can then use a base for pho soups or mushroom soups and sauces! Use a sharp paring knife to trim the stems where they attach to the cap. They do not twist of easily.
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Melt ghee or vegan butter in a large skillet on medium heat. Once melted, add olive oil. Add mushrooms and cook until golden, about 10-15 minutes. Stir as little as possible to make sure they brown and moisture is locked in. Add in garlic in the last minute. Season with pepper and a pinch of salt.
The pasta water should be ready by now.
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Cook pasta al dente (about 10 minutes - check the package for exact timing).
While the mushrooms and pasta are cooking, whisk together the two egg yolks, the whole egg, grated cheese, and nutmeg in a small bowl. Set aside.
Once the pasta is cooked, ladle out about 1 cup of the pasta water and if using nutritional yeast, dilute it in it . Drain the pasta.
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Return drained pasta to the saucepan with the mushrooms. The pan should still be pretty hot but the stove turned off. Immediately add ½ cup of the hot pasta water in with the cooked pasta and stir to combine.
Add the egg and cheese mixture. Stir quickly to create a creamy sauce. Add more pasta water if necessary and if it’s not binding, quickly return to the still hot stovetop just for a second but don’t heat it too much. Transfer to a serving plate or serving dish. Garnish with chopped parsley and more cheese. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
- When mixing the egg mixture, make sure to not cook it. If the egg curdles, the mushroom sauce will curdle.
- Make sure the pasta water is hot when you add it. You can microwave it if it has cooled down too much.
- Classic carbonara is made with spaghetti, but you can use any type of pasta you like, but keep in mind that longer pasta like spaghetti or linguine will give the best results here, as we have a perfect ratio of surface area to volume.
- Original Italian carbonara recipes use Pecorino Romano but I used Parmesan instead without any problems.
- Be sure to buy the Parmesan in one piece and grate it freshly. That makes the difference!
- Since the eggs for spaghetti carbonara are not heated to high temperatures, it is important to use very fresh free-range eggs.
- If you want, you can serve the pasta with some grated cheese on top.
- Always when cooking pasta dishes you want to salt the pasta water well! Several teaspoons of salt are normal. The water should taste like sea water.
- If you want, stir in a bit of lemon juice and lemon zest for a fresh kick