Penne Carbonnara

There are few exciting things coming up. For one, I’m looking forward to seeing Giz’s new kitchen. Maybe I’ll convince Giz to make a little video of her new digs. I’m also looking forward to the Bar Mitzvah cooking. It’s this Sunday (yes, Bar Mitzvahs are usually on Saturdays, but not this one). Lastly, in a few weeks, I'll be hosting Presto Pasta Nights.

Ruth, the creator of Presto Pasta Nights, had a brilliant idea to have guest hosts every second week. Not only does this lighten the weekly load of posting a roundup, which is actually more time consuming than I had expected, but it also gives other bloggers a chance to host a popular event. The theme is simple – any sort of pasta dish. I’ll post some reminders as we get closer to my week.

In anticipation of this event and with some cooler weather days, I’ve got my own submission for this week’s Presto Pasta Night.

I stopped in to the local Italian food grocery store this past weekend. Man, that place is dangerous. I love to just roam around and pick out a few items to experiment with. Given the wonderful smell of the store and varied selection, spending $50 on food that I don’t really need is easy.

I walked out of the store to a frantic R. who thought that the store had either been robbed or that I had fallen and couldn't get up. Both scenarios, in his mind, would feasibly account for why it had taken me so long in the store. But, I walked out of the store with ingredients for a carbonara sauce, so all transgressions against R's patience were pardoned.

There are a tonne of recipes for carbonara sauce online. Heck, even Tom Cruise has one. Most of them contain the same 5-6 ingredients: garlic, cheese (parmesan or romano), parsley, eggs, and bacon (pancetta). Here's what I did:

Penne Carbonara

penne (1 box - usually makes about 4-5 portions)

large portion of pancetta (maybe 1.5 inches thick), diced

3-4 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup romano cheese

1/3 cup parsley, chopped

4 eggs

salt and pepper, to taste

Start boiling your water. Once the water is started, add chopped garlic to a frying pan. Next you add the pancetta. At first I thought that the pieces I had cut were too large...

but after I added the pancetta to the garlic and allowed them to fry for a little while, the size was good. Once the water has come to a boil, add the pasta.

In the meantime, I grated some romano and parmesan cheese and added an egg to it.

I also decided to add some cream to this mixture, but I probably would not do this again. Instead, I'd just add some pasta water. It’s also important to consider that the liquid will evaporate, so for my tastes, a bit too much liquid is better than not enough.

Once the pasta if cooked, strain the water (reserve some). Then add the cheese/egg mixture, pancetta and parsley to the pasta. Mix well and add pasta water to obtain the desired consistency. Salt and pepper, to taste.

Delicious!

Lastly, I’d like to throw a plug in for Kristen at Dine and Dish’s Adopt a Blogger#2.

Shortly after Giz and I started this blog, we joined the first Adopt a Blogger, as newbies. We were paired with Ann and Jack from Redacted Recipes. Since it was such a great experience, Giz and I have now signed up a veteran bloggers. We’re looking forward to being paired with a newer foodblog. You can learn more about the details here.

Here’s the thing – there are lots of newbie foodblogs, but not enough veteran bloggers. So – if you’ve been around for a while and want to be paired with a newer blog, please go visit Kristen and sign up.