Desparation Meal

As I got ready for a little trip to Las Vegas with some other girlfriends (what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas), I did not want to buy any parishables before I left. I was desparate for a meal, so I was stuck having to rumage through my cupboards for something. This is what I came up with.

I have quite a bit of dried oregano that I harvested from my plants from last year. Once I took down the baggie of oregano, I knew it was going to be some Italian inspired dish.

What else? Oh, I spied a tin of smoked mussels! Oh, I love the flavor of these little treats! These mussels went into the pile of of ingredients to make my meal. In the same cupboard, I found some curly whole wheat pasta, so that went into the pile too.

In my fridge, what did I see? I saw an egg, frozen veggies (lima beans, peas, carrots, and corn), and a wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano. I definitely wanted to use those, and I decided that a Carbonara was in my future. I cooked up the pasta, and at the last minute, I dumped in the frozen veggies to be cooked. I drained the pasta, and then added the crushed red chili, oregano, garlic granules, and raw egg into the pasta then stirred and stirred, then covered for a minute for the egg to cook from the heat of the pasta and for the dried herbs to develop their flavor. I few minutes later, I folded in the drained mussels from the tin. Then I topped it off with some of my prized Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Ta da! My desparation meal a day before leaving for vacation. I did have a jar of marinated artichoke hearts that probably would have been good too, but it never made it into the pile on the counter. The meal was good for the purpose of not buying more parishables that would go to waste while I was gone. I am trying to cook with low sodium, and this dish could have had a little more salt.