Vernon WadeThere are lots of cooks out there who actually know what they are doing. I pretty much taught myself to cook, out of necessity. I haven’t a clue most of the time, but I do love to eat. 

I have made everything posted here. If I can do it, you certainly can. Someday, if there is enough interest, I will gather all these recipes into a cookbook. In the meantime, in the spirit of dashes, dollops and three-fingered pinches, I present them here for you to try. Let me know what you think.

This is one of my favorite camp meals. It only takes about twenty minutes and it is delicious. Dried lobster mushrooms work best in this dish. They hold up to cooking, add a marvelous flavor, and the water used for reconstituting them dyes the pasta orange and infuses it with flavor.

If you use fresh mushrooms, dry sauté them first to remove some of the liquor and improve the texture.

Ingredients

 

  • 1 lb. spaghetti
  • bacon, chopped
  • 1 handful (more or less) of dried lobster mushrooms
  • 1 handful of grated pecorino
  • 2 tbs butter
  • green peas (optional)
  • 4 beaten eggs
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2 tbs chopped parsley and/or chopped green onions
  • salt pepper to taste

cBring a pot of water to boil, reduce heat and simmer dried lobster mushrooms. While the mushrooms are reconstituting, attend to your preparations. Chop your parsley, mince your garlic, beat the eggs and cut your bacon into squares.

 

After about five minutes fish out the mushrooms and use the water to boil noodles. The mushrooms will have flavored the water and given it a nice orange hue. This will transfer to your pasta. Cook until not quite al dente. When draining the noodles do not discard all of the water. Reserve a quarter cup of this liquid; you will need it later.

 

As the spaghetti cooks, brown the chopped bacon in a hot skillet. Remove the bacon and reduce heat. Melt butter in the same pan. When the butter is bubbling, add reconstituted lobster mushrooms, salt, and pepper to taste. Sauté for about 5 minutes, add garlic and more pepper, if needed.

 

Add the pasta, peas if desired, and ¼ cup of the water you saved after boiling the spaghetti. Stir it all together, cooking for about a minute. Add the cooked, chopped bacon and continue stirring as you sprinkle in the grated pecorino and a bit more black pepper, coating the noodles evenly with cheese.

 

Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the beaten eggs; keep them moving so the spaghetti becomes coated with a cheesy sheen of eggs, cooked by the hot pasta. You want a slick coating, not scrambled eggs. The key is to stir briskly, keep the eggs moving through the mixture.  If you are using cast iron, you may want to wait just a moment for this step so the noodles, not the pan are heating the eggs.

 

Serve just as soon as the noodles are coated. Garnish with parsley or green onion, if you like.