Pasta Carbonara is a delicious meal, but is often overlooked by vegetarians since it generally contains pancetta or bacon. Also, it contains raw eggs, which can cause salmonella fear.
Not to worry! Simply replace the meat with mushrooms, and use pasteurized eggs to avoid any salmonella. Pasteurized eggs can be difficult to find, but it’s quite easy to pasteurize eggs yourself. Instructions follow Mushroom Carbonara recipe.
NOTE: As Queen of Freeze, I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to remind you (some might say, ‘nag’) to freeze the unused egg whites for future use.
MUSHROOM CARBONARA – makes about 11 cups
- 1 lb orecchiette pasta (or whatever pasta you prefer)
- 3 T olive oil
- 1½ lbs common white mushrooms, chopped into quarters
- 1/2 lb fresh shiitake mushrooms, chopped into quarters
- 2/3 cup chopped shallots (about 2 large)
- 1 T pressed garlic (about 10 cloves, depending on size)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 5 yolks, pasteurized
- 1 whole egg, pasteurized
- 1 – 1½ tsp ground black pepper, depending on preference
- 4 oz Pecorino-Romano, grated
- 2/3 cup Italian parsley, chopped
In a Dutch oven, bring 4 quarts of water and 2 T kosher salt to a full boil. Cook the pasta until it’s almost done – about 2 minutes less than package calls for (it will continue to soften). Place a bowl under a sieve and drain pasta, making sure to capture 2 cups of pasta water. (Pasta water is a great thickener.) Set this water aside – you’ll need it later.
Into the now empty Dutch oven place the olive oil and mushrooms. Over medium heat, briefly stir the mushrooms to cover with the oil. Then continue to cook, uncovered, WITHOUT further stirring for 5 minutes in order to draw out the liquid. 
After 5 minutes, begin stirring now and then until liquid has evaporated and mushrooms have browned – about 5 minutes. 
Add in shallots and garlic, cooking another few minutes – just before shallots begin to brown. 
Stir in the 1 tsp kosher salt, cooked pasta, and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water. Remove pot from heat source and let cool about 5 minutes.
Separate the yolks from 5 of the eggs and beat these yolks together with the whole egg. As you’re beating the eggs, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of the pasta water, stirring constantly – this will temper the eggs. 
Then slowly pour the eggs into the pasta mixture, stirring constantly. 
Stir in the pepper, Pecorino-Romano, and the parsley. 
Turn burner to very low and continue to stir in order to heat pasta for serving, taking care not to scramble the eggs. If mixture is too thick for your liking, loosen it up with remaining pasta water.
Buon appetito!!!
PASTEURIZING EGGS
Note: I’ve watched many videos and read many sites about pasteurizing eggs. Plus, I’ve done it myself with no ill effects. HOWEVER, you should do your own research, just to be sure.
About 20 minutes before beginning, remove eggs from refrigerator to bring them to room temperature.
Have a bowl of ice water ready.
Place room temperature eggs (still in their shells) in a saucepan and cover with about 1″ of water.
Heat saucepan until water reaches 140º Fahrenheit. Maintain 140º for 3 minutes for large eggs and 5 minutes for extra large eggs. (You’ll probably have to turn off burner all-together to maintain the temperature.) 
Remove pan from heat source and immediately remove eggs to the ice bath for about 5 minutes. This will stop the cooking process.
Remove eggs from ice water and refrigerate until needed. Make sure you mark them somehow so they don’t get confused with unpasteurized eggs.
You may notice the whites have become slightly cloudy – this is fine. Also, beating the whites into a meringue may take longer, although I haven’t had any problem with this.
It’s summer party time and that, of course, means food – particularly finger foods to snack on. Yes, we all love our onion dip, guacamole, salsa, and bean dip. But isn’t there room for something new?
Pulse until blended, but not pureed – you want some chunkiness to the dip. Scrap down sides of bowl, as needed when you pulse.
You can serve dip as it, or heat it in the microwave for a total of 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir. Serve with a substantial chip such as bagel or tortilla chips.
Turn your electric mixer on medium to break up the whites. When the whites begin to foam, add in the cream of tartar. 
Increase mixer speed to high and beat whites until stiff peaks form. 
Pour the yolks/yogurt into the beaten whites and turn on mixer to very low. Beat until the yolks are blended into the whites – this won’t take long. Don’t overbeat – you don’t want to deflate the whites. 
On a parchment lined cookie sheet, ladle out the batter into whatever shape you want, making them about 1/2″ thick. Space them at least 1″ apart.
Bake in 300º F oven about 25 – 30 minutes (mine took 25 minutes) – until beginning to brown. 
Place the Cloud Bread still on parchment on wire rack. After about 5 minutes, remove bread from paper to wire rack to completely cool. They should really rest at least an hour before using, in order to set. Store in fridge.
My mother used to love to buy lady’s club cookbooks. You know the ones – they’re made up of the members favorite recipes. Once I left home, she would buy them for me, too. This was years before the internet. Back then, we had to rely on cookbooks, magazines, and recipes passed on from friends and family.
Using a pastry brush, paint flour/butter thoroughly on bundt pan – getting into all the crevices. 
In an electric mixer, cream together 1/2 cup butter and granulated sugar for 3 minutes (don’t cut this time short).
Beat in eggs and vanilla. 
In a separate bowl, combine the 2 cups of flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
On low speed of mixer, beat in 1/2 of sour cream (don’t worry about being exact). 
Beat in 1/2 of flour mixture, then beat in remaining sour cream, followed by remaining flour. Stir in chocolate chips. (The picture below shows vanilla being added now – I forgot to add it earlier with the eggs.)
In a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, powdered sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. 
Spoon half of batter on bottom of bundt pan, gently spreading it out evenly. I find it easiest to scoop the batter into the bundt pan using a 3 T ice cream scoop, then gently spread the batter evenly around. 
Sprinkle on half of brown sugar mixture, then spoon on remaining batter, spreading it evenly. Finally, sprinkle on remaining brown sugar mixture. 
Bake at 350º F for 45-60 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean (it’s okay for there to be chocolate from the chips).
When done, remove from oven and let cake sit in pan for 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to completely cool. 
Sprinkle on powdered sugar, if desired.
When asked to attend a potluck, my Spicy Macaroni Salad is often specifically requested. Unlike the usual bland pasta salads, this recipe will wake up your mouth…in a good way!
Stir the carrots, radishes, cucumber, scallions, parsley, and dill into the dressing. Mix well and chill.
Cook pasta in salted water until just tender. Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking (don’t worry, it will continue to soften when mixed with the dressing) and drain. Mix into the dressing. Chill at least an hour to allow the flavors to penetrate the pasta.
Avocado Sauce is a quick and easy topping for tacos, salads, quesadillas, or anything else you want. As opposed to guacamole, which is usually chunkier, it’s meant to pour – thus covering more territory.
Pulse until creamy – scraping down sides as needed.
Adjust seasoning to your preference.
Split in half lengthwise. 
Scoop out the insides, measuring out 1½ to 1¾ cups, and mash. 
The skin and remaining insides are not going to be used.
In a separate bowl combine the cornmeal, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and gently mix together just until the flour is incorporated. (Don’t over-mix.) Over medium-high heat, melt remaining 1 T butter in a 10″ non-stick or cast iron skillet until bubbling. 
Pour in batter, spreading out evenly. 
Bake at 425º F 25-30 minutes – until toothpick comes out clean.
You can eat it plain, or top with butter, maple syrup, honey, etc.
One, generally, associates ‘gazpacho’ with the red, tomato based chilled soup. But there are other types, including ajoblanco – an almond based gazpacho.
While the bread is soaking, grind 1¼ cups almonds in a blender until they become a fine powder – about 30 seconds. 
Gently squeeze water out of bread back into the bowl (you’re going to use this water). 
Place the bread into the blender with the almonds. Set aside 1½ cups of the bread water for later. Into the blender, add the remaining water in bowl (NOT the 1½ cups you set aside), the vinegar, garlic, salt, and cayenne. Blend for 30 seconds. 
With blender running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil.
Pour in the 1½ cups bread water and run blender to mix.
Strain soup into a serving bowl. 
Into a small bowl combine 1 T of the strained soup with the almond extract. Then pour 1/2 tsp of this mixture into the soup (it enhances the almond flavor) and discard the rest (a little goes a long way). 
Correct for seasoning, if needed (I usually need more salt). Chill, at least, 3 hours – more is better. Toast remaining 3 T almonds in a dry skillet or toaster-oven.
One of my favorite flavor combinations is lemon and garlic, so it’s no surprise that Greek Potatoes are a go-to side dish in our house. Not only is it delicious, but it’s super fast and easy to prepare. (It does take about 40 minutes to bake, but that’s hands-off.)
Place in 475º F oven 
Remove from oven and sprinkle on parsley. Serve while hot.
Start swirling pan until butter is browned (turns reddish/amber) – it happens fast, so don’t leave unattended! (You may need to turn down the heat a bit or raise the pan off the flame.)
Immediately pour into large mixing bowl of your electric mixer. Add in the remaining 
Let melted butter cool at least 15 minutes. (You don’t want to melt the shortening.)
Add in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla. Beat on medium 2 minutes. Don’t shortchange the 2 minutes – it aerates the batter.
Add in whole egg and yolk and beat on low for 30 seconds. Let rest 3 minutes. USE A TIMER! (You’ll be doing this for a total of 3 times.) Beat on low for 30 seconds, then let rest another 3 minutes. Finally, beat on low for 30 seconds (this is the LAST time, I promise!) and let set 3 minutes.
Add in the chips and pecans, and mix on low until they are evenly disbursed and all the flour is incorporated.
Line cookie sheets with parchment or grease. Use a 3 T ice cream scoop or a 1/4 cup measuring cup filling it 3/4 full. Drop dough onto cookie sheet, spacing them far apart – you should get no more than 9 per sheet.
Bake in a preheated 375º F oven 8-11 minutes. (Check at the 8 minute mark – they cook faster on a dark sheet.) You want the edges to look done, but not the center (unless you like crispier cookies). The cookies will continue to bake on the hot sheet.
Remove from oven and let set on the hot cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Slide onto a wire rack to finish cooling.
It’s tempting to eat them right away, but try and resist. The flavor improves as they cool and firm up.
Vegetarian Cooking For Carnivores BLOG 