Results tagged “pasta” from NoMuse

About once a month, I invite a group of our friends and their children up for a potluck dinner and board games. Some nights we get around to the games; other nights, we find ourselves too busy chatting about this and that to be bothered. Regardless, we call it game night.

Each month I experiment with some sort of main dish. This month I was keen to inflict spaghetti alla carbonara on my victims our guests. It's an easy dish to make and seems to work well with children obsessed with orange colored dinners made from those blue boxes. And, it has bacon. Mmmmm, bacon.

The coolest thing about this dish is the sauce -- the eggs, cheese, and garlic are mixed and kept raw until added to the hot noodles. The heat from the noodles and the serving bowl melts the cheese and sets the egg into a delightfully creamy, cooked sauce. This dish is quick, easy, and super tasty.

I started thinking about Spaghetti Alla Carbonara after reading Michael Ruhlman's blog entry on this dish. My version below is derived from a number of sources but primarily from The Best New Recipe: All-New Edition.

Circa 2005, whole wheat pasta was a bit of a chore to eat. I've developed a preference for the nutty flavors that accompany whole grain cooking, to include pasta most days. Sometimes, even now, I just want pasta without the extra texture. My favorite whole grain pasta that doesn't feel like whole grain pasta is Tinkyada Pasta Joy. It is readily available through the local Wild Oats grocery chain -- at least until the Whole Foods merger is completed. If you are looking to add more whole grains to your diet, Pasta Joy is a great place to start.

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Serves 4-6

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 8 ounces bacon, cut into 1/4" by 1/2" pieces
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
• 3-4 garlic cloves pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon peel
• 1 14 ounce package of brown rice spaghetti
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 pinch coarse kosher salt
• freshly ground pepper

1. Pre-heat a serving bowl in an oven set at 200F. Set 4 quarts of water to boil in a large pot.
2. While the water is heating, heat the olive oil in a skillet to shimmering but not smoking. Add the bacon and shallots and cook until the bacon is crisp, stirring as needed (about 8 minutes). Deglaze the skillet with the wine and simmer to reduce (6-8 minutes). Keep warm. Beat the eggs, cheese, garlic, and lemon peel together. Set aside.
3. When the water comes to a boil, add salt. Then add pasta and stir to separate. Cook to al dente (13-15 minutes). Reserve 1/3 cup pasta water. Drain the noodles for 5 seconds, then transfer to the heated serving bowl. Immediately add the egg mixture and a pinch of salt. Toss to coat the noodles thoroughly. If the egg mixture is too thick on the noodles, add some of the pasta water and toss the noodles to thin the sauce to a smooth and even coating. Add the bacon mixture and ground pepper and toss to combine. Serve immediately.

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Selected References:
The Editors of Cook's Illustrated. The Best New Recipe: All-New Edition, 2nd Edition. Brookline: America's Test Kitchen, 2004.