A rich, luscious pasta sauce recipe made with fresh lobster mushrooms, Swiss cheese, and a splash of beer. An infusion of campfire smoke takes the flavor to irresistible heights.

Lucky lucky! We went camping for a long weekend at our favorite lake in September and, after setting up camp in the dark, I awoke the next morning to find some massive lobster mushrooms in the woods near the tent. In the past I had never found lobsters young enough to cook with, and being that we were camping my ingredients were limited.

Somehow this off-the-cuff guess at what to do with them was one of the best dishes I’ve cooked all year! A group skinny dip under the Milky Way in the warm lake and the cool air must have inspired me. And a limited kitchen can really bring you back down to basics. I found that milk, rather than cream, and the mild nutiness of Swiss cheese really set the stage for the mushrooms to be the headliner. I was worried that it would be a wild mushroom overload, but was delighted to find that we just couldn’t get enough of the texture and flavor of the lobsters. Lobster mushrooms have joined the ranks of my favorites.

Fun facts: The Lobster mushroom is not actually a mushroom, but a parasitic mold called Hypomyces lactifluorum. It attacks other mushrooms, usually russula and lactarius, and completely turns the host into itself. They end up red on the outside, like cooked lobster, and white, dense, and meaty inside. The red cooks into the liquid creating a beautifully colored dish.

I’ve written this recipe to the best of my memory, but please know that the amounts are estimations. Use your best judgement to alter as appropriate.

Ingredients

3 cups fresh lobster mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
vegetable oil
2 tbsp butter
2 shallots, diced small
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup beer (I had a bitter IPA ‘cause that’s how I do, but use whatever you have)
1 1/2 cup whole milk
red pepper flakes to taste
1/2 to 1 cup Swiss cheese, grated
salt and black pepper

Directions

Heat oil in a large cast iron skillet. Cook mushrooms until most water is cooked out and they are tender, adding some salt near the end. The time will vary based on how wet the mushrooms are. Mine took about 20 minutes. Remove cooked mushrooms to another dish.
Return skillet to heat and add butter and shallots. Cook on low heat until shallots are tender, 10 - 15 minutes. Raise heat to medium high, add garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring. Add beer and let cook for 1 more minute, stirring.
Return the mushrooms to the pan with shallot mixture and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes until the mushrooms are heated through. Turn the heat down to low and add the milk and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring often, until the liquid has reduced a bit, 20 minutes or so.
Take skillet off the heat and stir in the cheese. I found 1/2 cup of Swiss was plenty, as this is a very flavorful sauce. Stir in salt and black pepper to taste.
Move the skillet to the fire to keep warm while you cook your pasta. Make sure it doesn’t boil, but very gently simmers. Stir often, and let the sauce absorb some smoky flavor.
Serve the warm sauce over pasta.

Notes:
I did the first 3 steps on a camp stove so I could control the heat.
If your beer is mild-flavored, you might want to use more than 1/3 cup. I’d avoid a sweet beer, though.
Use more than 1 1/2 cups of milk if you think you need it in order to make enough sauce.

Feature Fonts: Blenny, with Novecento Slab.