Skillet Peas With Mushrooms and Prosciutto
A restaurant side dish rebuilt from dried mushrooms and freeze-dried peas for a camp skillet.
- calories
- 320
- weight
- 3.2 oz
- cal / oz
- 100
- protein
- 13 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 400 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried sliced mushrooms | 1 oz | shiitake or porcini; they rehydrate to roughly a half pound |
|---|---|---|
| Freeze-dried green peas | 1 cup | shell peas, not the crunchy snack kind |
| Dried minced onion | 2 tbsp | stands in for the sweet yellow onion |
| Prosciutto | 1 oz | torn into ribbons; cured ham keeps unrefrigerated for days |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Ghee or clarified butter | 1 tbsp | shelf-stable where butter is not |
| Chicken bouillon | 1 tsp | |
| Dried parsley or mint | 1 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | go light, the bouillon and ham are salty |
Method
- Pour 250 ml of boiled water over the mushrooms in your pot and let them sit ten minutes. Drain the liquid into a cup and keep it.
- Wipe the pot dry. Heat the oil, add the drained mushrooms, and let them sit still until the edges brown, about five minutes. Stirring constantly just steams them.
- Add the onion, prosciutto, and ghee. Cook five more minutes until the onion softens and the ham curls.
- Stir the bouillon into 150 ml of the reserved mushroom liquid and pour it in. Cook until almost all of it is gone.
- Add the peas and enough remaining mushroom water to cover them. Two minutes, lid on, off the heat.
- Stir in the parsley. Taste before you salt.
This started as a restaurant side, cooked with fresh shell peas and whole porcini. Neither travels. Dried mushrooms and freeze-dried peas do, and the swap costs less than you would think: the mushroom soaking water becomes the broth, so the flavor you would have lost goes back into the pan.
The order matters. Brown the mushrooms in dry fat before any liquid touches them, or they stay pale and rubbery. The peas go in last and barely cook, because freeze-dried peas turn to mush in about a minute of hard boiling. Prosciutto and ghee replace the butter and fresh ham because both hold at ambient temperature.
Packing
Mushrooms, peas, onion, bouillon, and herbs in one bag each or one bag total. Prosciutto stays sealed in its original package until camp. Oil and ghee in leakproof bottles.
Variations
- Swap the prosciutto for a foil packet of bacon crumbles or salami.
- Skip the ham and use vegetable bouillon for a lighter, meatless pot.
- Instant rice on the side turns a side dish into dinner.
https://foragerchef.com/peas-with-porcini-proscuitto-and-radish-snaps