Carbonara Style with Mushrooms, Sausage & Egg — Empty Fridge Pasta

Carbonara Style with Mushrooms, Sausage & Egg — Empty Fridge Pasta
This recipe is a carbonara-style pasta with mushrooms, sausage, and egg, created in the first episode of my new What’s in Your Fridge? What Would an Italian Cook? series. After a trip to Leicester, Julie and I came home to an almost empty fridge: just mushrooms, one sausage, some eggs, and a few basics. Rather than shopping again, I turned them into a creamy, comforting dish, pasta with sautéed mushrooms, rich sausage meat, Parmesan, and finished with an egg on top. The beauty of this recipe is its flexibility. It isn’t carbonara, but it borrows the same technique, egg and cheese as the sauce base, while adapting to whatever you have on hand. This new series is all about creativity, flexibility, and avoiding waste. I want to show that even with an almost empty fridge, you can make something delicious.

This idea came from my viewer Robert, thank you, Robert, for the inspiration and for sharing your fridge with me through our messages. That sparked the creation of this series, which is all about avoiding food waste, using what we have, and discovering how delicious “make-do” cooking can be. If your fridge is half empty or full to the brim, send me a photo via the TortellinoTime Facebook community page (link below). I will cook something inspired by what you have.

INGREDIENTS USED
200g spaghetti (or your favourite pasta)
120g sausage meat (pork or chicken)
150g mushrooms, sliced
2 egg yolks (plus 2 whole egg for poaching)
50g Parmigiano Reggiano (or Pecorino), grated
1 clove garlic, minced
A splash of milk
Fresh basil & parsley
Olive oil
Black pepper

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the Mushrooms
Add olive oil to a frying pan. Chop a lot of mushrooms (more than needed for this recipe if you have extra). Heat the pan on maximum, mix mushrooms so they’re coated in oil. Reduce heat to medium, place a lid on, and let them sweat for 7–8 minutes until reduced in volume.

Make the Egg and Cheese Base
Separate the yolks from a couple of eggs (yolks only). Place yolks in a bowl and give them a gentle mix. Grate 40–50g of Parmigiano Reggiano (or grana/pecorino) and add to yolks. Mix until you get a thick paste. Add 2 tablespoons of milk to soften, then mix until smooth and lumps disappear. Finish the Mushrooms and Prepare a Side Dish

Check mushrooms, increase heat to remove excess water.
Chop fresh parsley and set aside. Keep basil leaves whole. Split cooked mushrooms into two portions:
Portion 1: for the pasta (keep in pan).
Portion 2: for a side dish (move to a separate dish).
To the side dish portion, add crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and whole mixed nuts. Add parsley and basil, mix together. Transfer side dish to a container with lid, let cool, and refrigerate.

Cook the Sausage
Remove sausage skin and use only the meat. Use a separate, non-wooden chopping board for meat. Add sausage to the same pan (no extra oil needed) and cook on medium until browned. No need to add salt, sausage is already seasoned.

Combine Sausage, Mushrooms, and Sauce Base
Keep a few pieces of sausage and mushrooms aside for garnish. Let remaining sausage and mushrooms cool slightly. Add cooled sausage and mushrooms to egg and cheese mixture. Mix thoroughly until well combined. Cover and refrigerate until ready to cook pasta.

Cook the Pasta
Remove prepared ingredients from fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Salt boiling water and cook spaghetti until 1 minute before al dente. In a separate pan, bring water with a splash of vinegar to a gentle swirl, poach two eggs for about 2 minutes, then remove carefully. Reserve for topping. Reserve some starchy pasta water.

Finish the Dish
Add pasta to the sauce mixture, return to heat, and mix well. Add some reserved pasta water to create a creamy texture. Cook for no more than 1–1½ minutes.

Serve
Plate pasta and spoon over some of the sauce from the pan. Top with extra Parmesan, reserved sausage and mushrooms. Create an indentation and place poached egg on top. Sprinkle with pepper. Enjoy

📷 Want to be featured in the next episode?
Send me a photo of your fridge contents via the TortellinoTime Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/969204991289737?locale=en_GB

Don’t shop first, the fun is in using what you already have. Let’s get creative, avoid food waste, and enjoy delicious meals from whatever’s in the fridge.

00:00 Introduction — An Almost Empty Fridge
00:47 Cooking the Sausage & Mushrooms
03:55 Making the Carbonara-Style Sauce
17:37 Plating and Final Thoughts

Acoustic Guitar 1 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Artist: http://audionautix.com/

#CarbonaraStyle
#EmptyFridgePasta
#ItalianCooking
#MushroomPasta
#SausagePasta
#HomemadeItalian
#TortellinoTime
#CookWithWhatYouHave
#SimpleItalianFood
#nowastecooking
#carbonara

Today’s recipe… proof that even with an almost 
empty fridge, you can still cook something delicious. What’s in your fridge? What would an 
Italian cook? Does it look nearly empty… like mine? So, Julie and I went shopping for 
groceries and fresh vegetables… and now, our fridge looks much happier. But the recipe 
in this video is about making the most of what I had when the fridge was almost empty — a pasta 
with sausage and mushrooms, on a carbonara base, one of my own creations. This is the very 
first episode of my new series called “What’s in Your Fridge? What Would an Italian Cook?”
Sp whether your fridge is full or nearly empty, please send me a photo, and I will cook something 
delicious from it in the meantime let’s go and cook this dish! Buongiorno — and it is only just 
giorno, as it is 7:00 in the morning. I’ve got a very busy day ahead. I have got some planning, 
some meetings, and also I’m getting myself ready for a conference. My day job, by the way, 
is in finance. I work on housing projects, and today I’ve got a chocka day. So I decided 
that I’ll get my meal ready in the morning, and then this afternoon or this evening 
— early evening — when it’s time to eat, all I’ve got to do is just cook the pasta. This 
is a recipe which actually was a little bit incidental. We didn’t have many ingredients. 
We came back from Leicester visiting my son, and all we had in the fridge was some mushrooms 
and eggs, and a few basic ingredients, sausages, and so on. So I made something which uses the 
carbonara a little bit outside the base, but I modified it. This is not a carbonara by any means, 
but there will be eggs and cheese. I have decided to start early, and as lots of you will have busy 
lives, you will relate to this. So it’s evidencing that you can prepare even a simple meal ahead of 
time and leave it in the fridge — then all you have to do when you come back home from work is 
just cook the pasta, and away you go. When I made this dish, I thought it was absolutely delicious — 
and actually, that speaks volumes, because it goes to show that recipes do not have to be standard or 
approved to be authentic. I would highly recommend that you experiment in the kitchen, because 
sometimes when you put something together based on what you have in the fridge, you come up 
with the most incredible and delicious recipes. This is olive oil in a frying pan, and I’ve just 
chopped a lot of mushrooms — quite a lot. I will not be using all of them for this recipe, but 
I’ll explain what I’m going to be doing with them in a moment. At the moment my temperature 
is on maximum, so I’m making sure that I give everything a good mix so that all of my mushrooms 
are covered by some oil. I’ll turn the temperature down now to medium and place the lid on, and I 
will leave them to gently sweat for about seven or eight minutes until they’ve reduced in volume. 
As I will be using egg yolks and Parmesan cheese (or pecorino if you like), this is a similar base 
to what you would do for a carbonara. I’ve got a couple of eggs here, and I’m removing the yolk 
from the white as I only want the yolk for this recipe. I’ve also got another four whites here 
from a previous recipe I made, and as you know, I don’t like to waste food. I’ve got a different 
idea for what to do with these — it’s a bit of a dessert. I’ve not totally crystallised it in my 
head yet, but when I make it in the next couple of days, I’ll put a link up here and then you can 
see what I’ve got in mind for that. So I’ll put the yolks in the fridge and give them a gentle mix 
first. If you’re familiar with carbonara, you will know that you need to add some hard Italian 
grated cheese. This is Parmigiano Reggiano, but you can use grana if you like, or pecorino. 
I’m not making a carbonara — I’m making something different — and the hard Italian cheese is all you 
need, really. I’ve grated about 40 to 50 grammes, by the way, in case you are curious about the 
quantities. I’ll give this a further mix so that the egg and my cheese incorporate together. 
You’ll notice that as the white is not in there, you get this very thick paste. So what I did 
is add a little splash of milk — not a lot, just a couple of tablespoons — to soften it up and 
make it smoother. The milk enables me to mix it a little bit more vigorously, and if you look, all 
of the lumps have pretty much disappeared. It’s a little bit liquidy, but that’s fine — that’s 
what I want. Back to my mushrooms, which have been merrily cooking away. You can see that they’ve 
reduced in volume quite drastically. There is still a little bit of water at the bottom, so I’ll 
turn the temperature up slightly and try to get rid of some of it. I did say earlier that I wasn’t 
going to use all of the mushrooms for this recipe, so I’m preparing a side dish which I’ll keep 
in the fridge. I’ll start by chopping a little parsley into small pieces. This is also basil 
— both fresh from the garden — but I will not be chopping the basil, just the parsley. I 
like to retain the shape and see the leaves, and I’ll keep it on one side. Let’s have a 
look at the mushrooms. The amount of water has reduced considerably, so I’ll split them. I’m 
pinching some and putting them over here — this will be what I’ll keep in my fridge — and this 
is what will be for my pasta this evening. But I’ll deal with the side dish first. A couple 
of little cloves of garlic — I’ll add them to my hot mushrooms. Perfect. Garlic crushers are 
great, but you don’t get all of the garlic out, which is slightly annoying. That’s why often I 
end up crushing it by myself. I didn’t add any salt or pepper earlier, specifically because there 
is plenty of cheese in my pasta, and that is quite salty. So I will not be adding any salt whatsoever 
— other than when I cook the pasta. But I will add the salt and pepper to my mushrooms, as these 
have got nothing to do with the base. Here are some mixed nuts which we use for breakfast. I’m 
actually interested in the whole nuts. I’m going to pinch some and add them to my mushrooms. This 
is something most people have never tried before, but if you think about it, all nuts have quite 
a hearty flavour, so they marry really, really well with mushrooms. Optional — if you don’t have 
any or you don’t fancy whole nuts, don’t put them in. You can put in as many as you like. I’ll be a 
little bit more generous than normal, as I’ve got more mushrooms than usual. Excellent. All I’ve got 
left now is to add my chopped parsley and basil, and mix it all together. As the mushrooms are 
really hot, as soon as you put the garlic and the herbs in, the smell is incredible. I have to 
be honest, I made a mistake — I don’t really know why I used this white dish when my plan was to put 
them in the fridge inside this other one. I think it’s a little bit early in the morning! I could 
have actually done with less washing up. Anyway, I’ll move them inside the glass jug, which 
conveniently has a little lid, and they can go in the fridge. I’ll leave them to cool down for 
a few minutes and then they’ll be ready. This is an excellent side dish — not for today, for us, 
but for tomorrow or the day after. Chicken, fish, whatever you like. However, it’s not all lost, 
as I can use my little dish to let the remaining mushrooms cool down — I’ll be using the pan to 
fry a little sausage in a moment. I’m using a very large sausage today, which will be plenty for two 
people. It’s only Julie and I eating. I’ve scored a line in the middle as I do not want the skin 
— I just want the sausage meat on the inside. You’ll have noticed that I’m using a different 
board when dealing with meat, especially sausages, pork, or poultry, to avoid cross-contaminating. 
This is very important because wood is porous and absorbs a lot of juices and other things coming 
off meat. I would strongly recommend that when you’re working with meat, especially poultry or 
pork, you use a different board — ideally not a wooden one. Sausages by nature are quite fatty, so 
I’m not going to be adding any more oil. There is a little residue at the bottom of my pan anyhow. 
The temperature at the moment is on medium, so I’ll just add my sausage first. Also, 
sausages are salted already, so again, no need to add any salt. You can use any type 
of sausage. As I said earlier, this is a recipe based on what I had in the fridge, which I’m now 
replicating. You do not have to limit yourself to sausages — you can use any pork products or even 
chicken. There isn’t a rule, really. Pancetta, chicken, or even Parma ham or salami — if you buy 
salami and chop it into tiny little pieces, you can do the same. This is actually a very good time 
for me to mention something. A little while back, one of my very loyal viewers and subscribers, 
Robert — I think he lives in the States, hi Rob — sent me a note making a suggestion. He 
suggested that maybe I could do a little series where I look in the fridge of my children 
and cook whatever they have in the fridge, or with whatever they have in the fridge. Then, 
as we were exchanging messages, the idea changed and evolved. I decided that actually I would do 
a little mini-series and I would call it: What’s in Your Fridge? What Would an Italian Cook? So I 
would like to suggest that if you send me a photo of whatever you have in your fridge — just don’t 
go shopping beforehand — any time of the day, I will post a little link to this video in the 
description and in the first comment, where I’ve got a Facebook page for the TortellinoTime 
community. If you send me a photo of whatever you have on that page, I will replicate some 
of the ingredients depending on what you have, and I’ll cook whatever you have. I think it’s a 
little bit of fun, and it demonstrates maybe some of the flexibility and adaptability that we might 
have based on what we have in the fridge. So, if you have any views, or if you wish to send me 
a photo, please do. I would love to interact with you, and let’s see where it goes. I’ll start at 
the moment with what I had in the fridge a little while back. I didn’t take a photo, but I’m telling 
you the truth, of course. And of course, thank you, Robert, for the suggestion — that’s very kind 
of you. My sausage has been cooking merrily while I’ve been chatting away, and look, it’s looking 
absolutely beautiful. I’ll turn it off so that I don’t end up burning it, and I will remove it from 
the heat. I’ll leave it to cool down for a couple of minutes — enough for the sausage not to cook 
the eggs — and then I’ll mix everything together. Before I proceed though, I want to keep a few 
mushrooms over here, and I’ll do the same with the sausage. The reason I’m keeping these is for 
an additional garnish on top of my pasta when it’s finished. Everything has cooled down — back to 
my eggs over here. I think I can move this out of the way, and I’ll quite literally mix everything 
together. Sausages go in (ensuring that everything has cooled down; you do not want to cook the eggs) 
followed by the remaining mushrooms. I think my whisk can go out of the way. Then I’ll give this a 
good mix together so that the sausages, mushrooms, egg, and Parmesan cheese are all combined. My 
sauce is pretty much done. All I’ve got left to do now is put a little cover on top. I’ve got 
these very useful plastic rubber covers — look, they’re hermetic — and I’ll place that in the 
fridge. I’ll put some cling film on top of my mushrooms and sausages, and I’ll see you this 
afternoon about 5 or 6 o’clock, when I finish my meetings. I’d better go and get ready 
for work now — so, see you later. Ciao ciao. And I am back! How was your day? Mine was not 
too bad at all. I work from home, by the way, which is great for me because I work part-time 
and I can be very flexible, alternating my cooking with my consultancy role. I really love it. I 
also like the fact that I can wear shorts — look, I’m wearing them now — without people knowing, 
because clearly you’re in front of the telly. It’s great. I love that. During the winter 
months, sometimes I’ve even got my pyjama bottoms on — I look normal from the top. I’m 
sure that many of you will have done the same. Maybe you can let me know — do you ever work in 
your pyjama bottoms? I’ve just salted the water, and I’ve also got all of my ingredients out from 
the fridge. They’ve been out about half an hour so that they start getting to room temperature. 
The next thing to do is really to put the pasta on. I’m doing spaghetti today — this is my mum’s 
favourite pasta. I’ll turn the temperature up so that the water continues boiling. Ensure that you 
read the packaging and cook the pasta up until one minute before it is al dente, so that it can be 
finished cooking with the sauce. Also, being that this is my own recipe, I’ve got another little 
surprise. I’m going to swap places — I’ll put the pasta water at the back so it can continue cooking 
— and in the front, a little splash of vinegar, because I’m going to have a couple of poached 
eggs which I will place on top of my pasta. Now, it’s not a very Italian thing to do, but this is 
my recipe, and it goes really well. When I did it the other day, it was absolutely fantastic. 
Look at the size of this one — I think that needs to be mine. In it goes. The reason I’ve 
chosen this to cook my eggs is because I want to show you how quickly they change, and 
I think it’s fascinating. But obviously, it’s glass — so do not use something like 
this unless you’re very careful. Use a normal saucepan if you’re doing the same. Just give the 
water a little twist with your spoon or knife, and they will take about a couple of minutes to 
cook. In the meantime, before I forget, I’ll get a little of my starchy pasta water from over here, 
as I will need it later. I think my eggs are done, so very carefully — I don’t want to break them 
— I’ll gently remove them and place them on a little dish. That’s number one. And here is number 
two. I’ll put them to one side. As I often say, the best way to test if your pasta is ready is to 
taste it. Let’s have a look… it’s just perfect. I’ll turn it off, drain it, and I’m back. I’ve 
also kept a little bit of the cooking water. I will add my pasta to my mixture first, then 
put it back on the heat and mix it using my spoon to see what it looks like. I think it 
could do with cooking for one more minute, so in it goes again. Here is my reserved water — 
I’m going to add half of it and see what it looks like. What this will do is finish cooking the 
pasta, and because the water is nice and starchy, it will release a lovely creaminess and make the 
dish quite creamy. You don’t need to do this for very long — no more than a minute or a minute and 
a half — until the pasta is properly cooked. I’m pretty much done. If you look, you’ll see there’s 
a little bit of liquid there, which is beautiful. I’ll turn this off and portion it out, moving 
away from the hob so it doesn’t overcook. That is pretty much one portion done. I’ll put this 
one to the side and show you what I’ll do next. You’ll recall that I reserved some sausages and 
mushrooms — here they are, at room temperature. Before I add those, I want to put a little bit 
more cheese on top. Here comes my Parmesan. Also, at the moment, I’ve got a lot of the liquid at 
the bottom of my pan, so I’m going to spoon some of it on top of my pasta so that it’s lovely and 
creamy. Little sausage on the top, and also a few mushrooms — they are the signature of this dish, 
of course. As I place the mushrooms, I’m making sure to create a little indentation ready for my 
egg. Now, let’s see if I can pick this up without breaking it… I was very successful the other 
day — hopefully, now that I’m filming it… yes, it’s worked. The very last thing you’re going 
to need is a little pepper on top of your egg, and it’s ready. I’ll just take a couple of photos 
and then test it. OK, let’s see what this tastes like. In all fairness, I know exactly what it 
tastes like because we had it last week, but let’s see if it matches the expectations. I just 
like to break the egg and go for it. Umm… umm… it’s perfect. I’ve made a mess with my hand! It’s 
really delicious, and the added egg on the top really marries the entire concept beautifully. So 
remember — try and send me some photos of what’s inside your fridge, and I’ll try and replicate it 
and make something from what you have. A little bit of fun. Thank you very much for watching, and 
enjoy. If you make it, it’s absolutely delicious.