Beef and Mushroom Carbonara

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Well, Happy New Year! I feel like I need to acknowledge that we turned the calendar page in my first contributor recipe of 2017. Does anyone else feel like this year is going to be full of opportunity and blessings? There’s something about the number 17. Maybe because 8 is my favorite number (I was born on 8-8-88) and 1 + 7 = 8… in case you needed to brush up on your 2nd grade math. All superstitions aside, I hope this new year brings you both healing and happiness!

My recipe this month for you is a savory saucy number that will give you the warm fuzzies this winter. I will be at the beach. Because I now live in Florida. Not rubbing it in (Yes, I am). But we Floridians still do like to pretend it’s winter by eating comfort foods when it drops to a frigid 68 degrees F and taking our margaritas “not on the rocks because it’s too cold for ice.” So I’m sharing this lovely recipe today that we can all enjoy no matter the climate. Bacon? Good. Meat? Good. Sauce? Goooood.

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This carbonara is slightly untraditional because it does not contain any cream-based white sauce. The beef and mushrooms do simmer and thicken in a mushroom, broth, and red wine-based sauce though, which makes for a just-as-delicious savory dinner. I would serve this with my “AIP red wine” which is a 2:1 ratio of sparkling mineral water and tart cherry juice in a wine glass! And a side salad for extra greens of course! Mangiamo!

4.5 from 2 reviews
Beef and Mushroom Carbonara
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Author:
Serves: 4 servings
Ingredients
  • 3-lb spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise
  • 6 slices bacon
  • 3 cups sliced cremini mushrooms, divided
  • 1 cup chopped white onion, divided
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup homemade beef broth
  • 2 teaspoons each dried thyme, dried basil, and dried oregano
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt, plus additional for seasoning
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • ¼ cup red wine
  • Arugula, for serving
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the squash cut side down. Roast for 40-45 minutes until tender. Let cool before scooping out the flesh with a large fork. Discard any seeds. You can also use an Instant Pot to pressure cook your squash. Pressure-cook the halved squash with ½ cup liquid for 8 minutes and following the above directions for scooping out the flesh.
  2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer the bacon to a cutting board to cool, before chopping into small pieces. Leave the drippings in the pan.
  3. In a food processor or blender, combine 1 cup of the mushrooms, ½ cup onion, garlic, broth, dried herbs, and sea salt until a smooth liquid forms. Set aside.
  4. Add the ground beef, remaining 2 cups mushrooms, and remaining ½ cup onion to the skillet and cook on medium heat until the beef is no longer pink and the vegetables are tender. Season with a pinch of sea salt.
  5. Pour mushroom broth and red wine into the skillet and bring the liquid to a simmer. Maintain a simmer as you allow most of the liquid to evaporate over the next 20 minutes until you are left with a thickened beef and mushroom sauce.
  6. Serve the warm spaghetti squash topped with the beef and mushrooms, chopped bacon, and arugula.

 

About Alaena Haber

Alaena Haber is the recipe creator and blabber, err… blogger, behind Grazed and Enthused, an Autoimmune Protocol diet and lifestyle blog. Alaena initially began blogging in 2014 to re-spark her passion for cooking while on the elimination phase of the Autoimmune Protocol, which she uses to address Hashimoto’s and leaky gut symptoms. Enthused by her rapid health progression, she decided it was time to help others by devoting more (okay, all) of her spare time to the autoimmune community. Alaena has three requirements for her recipes: they must be creative, accessible, and make others excited about nutritional healing. You can find her on Facebook and Instagram where she shares both tiny and victorious moments in her healing journey.

9 comments

  • Maureen Walker says

    Looks wonderful. Is red wine permitted on AIP?

    • Mickey Trescott says

      Maureen,
      Every recipe we post here on the site is compliant with the elimination diet. Red wine as a beverage is not permitted, but in small quantities in cooking, where the alcohol will be cooked off is fine (such as this recipe). Good luck!

  • […] I’m a lover of meat sauces. My mom used to make a big pot of her meat sauce every few weeks when we were kids, and the smell of it simmering all day got me so excited for dinnertime! Of course then we served it with boiled pasta, and in my well-informed years of adulthood, I’m serving it with spaghetti squash! By the way, this is also how my mom serves her meat sauce now! We both went Paleo around the same time in 2012! Last night I made the Meat Sauce fromThe Healing Kitchenand I was inspired by this Beef + Mushroom Carbonara to add a glug of red wine to it… omgsh you guys. And THEN I served it over white sweet potato wedges for an Italian take on Poutine. It would honestly be even yummier (if that’s possible) with this Carbonara because of the bacon and mushrooms! I topped everyone else’s Italian Poutine with raw grass-fed sharp cheddar and they went bonkers over it. Just bonkers. So that being said – you don’t have to serve this over spaghetti squash – you can eat it with par-boiled zoodles, sweet potato fries, over cauliflower rice, or in a bowl by itself! Find the full recipeHERE […]

  • Shawna Blue says

    What would you recommend as a substitute for red wine? (We do not use wine at all, even for cooking purposes)
    Thanks!! 🙂

    • Angella says

      Do you use red wine vinegar? My mom uses that in stroganoff recipes and I can’t really tell the difference.

  • Britta Jordan says

    I made this tonight for me and the boyfriend, who is a confirmed vegetable-hater.
    If there is a bit of onion he can see, he will pick it out. He’s that bad.

    Anyway, I minced the mushrooms up so that they blended into the ground beef when cooked and he devoured a whole bowl! I have yet to tell him there were mushrooms in his dinner. I may keep it our little secret. 😉

    Not a huge fan of this flavor over spaghetti squash, personally. Next time I will probably go for zoodles, even if I love the hands-off aspect of spaghetti squash.

  • Rachel says

    I can’t stand arugula. Would baby spinach, dandelion greens, or radicchio be a good substitute — or a combo thereof?

  • Morgan says

    This was amazing- whole family loved it. I wasn’t sure the Spaghetti squash would go far enough so served w some (brown rice) spaghetti which made hubby and kids happy. What would you think about making this in the crockpot and adding some chopped zucchini for extra veggies? Either way will definitely keep this recipe to make again.

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