Pasta alla Carbonara

Check out the recipe for Makin' Bacon Buns from June 24, 2007 because the bacon fat you drain from this recipe can be used for the the buns. Don't cringe, the bread is delicious and you need an appropriate fat for your buns. Ohhh, that sentence can go wrong in so many ways.

The imperial to metric conversions are not scientifically exact. The success of this recipe, any recipe really, depends on good ingredients and adjusting for minute differences. Some bacon may have more water; other bacon could be more salty. One cook may pack their cheese more densely or grate it more coarsely. Some cooks may use salted butter, others unsalted. The recipe depends on you to taste and adjust at the end. Aim for a creamy, slightly salty sauce with a good bacon bite.

Pasta alla Carbonara
1 small onion, finely diced
1 lb regular bacon (500 gr) cut into small pieces
4 tablespoons butter (60 mL)
2/3 cup cream (165 mL)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (125 mL)
4 egg yolks
salt and pepper
1&1/2 lbs pasta (700 gr)

Fill your pasta pot with water and put it on to boil. If you use a large skillet for the sauce you can stir the pasta into it at the end.

Cook the bacon in the skillet until the bacon is crisp. Remove bacon from the pan and drain most of the bacon grease from the pan. Add the diced onions to the pan and saute until soft and transparent. Stir and scrape the bottom of the pan. When you cook the onions in the skillet after the bacon it will deglaze the pan.

Remove the pan from the heat and add butter. Stir in the cream and cheese; mix thoroughly. Add the egg yolks and stir. Stir really fast if your pan is too hot - otherwise the egg yolks will cook and lump up the sauce. Add cooked bacon. Taste. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. The sauce will thicken and cook when added to the hot pasta.

Cook your pasta in boiling salted water until al dente - tender but firm in the middle. Drain the pasta and add to the large skillet with the sauce. Mix well and put into a serving dish to bring to the table....or just bring the skillet to the table.

Serves 6 - 10 depending on serving size. Is it one of a few courses or the main event?

Eating Your Plants

I adore sage. Sage is a plant that tolerates a lot of neglect and I can eat it too. My favourite recipe is sage pesto. Easy. You can pimp it up with pine nuts but sage stands well on its own. It's an intense flavour and a little goes a long way.

Sage Pesto

Bunch of sage leaves, about 10 - 15 big leaves
1- 3 cloves of garlic (Are you kissing anyone later? That will help you decide the amount)
1 cup/250 mL extra virgin olive oil
Two 1 oz/ 30 gr chunks of Parmesan cheese
Salt
Freshly ground pepper

Wash sage leaves; toss in blender. Peel garlic; toss in blender. Cut two hunks of Parmesan; eat one. Toss the other chunk of Parmesan in the blender. Put 1/2 cup of olive oil in the blender and turn it on. Drizzle more olive oil into the blender to make a paste. It will be slightly chunky looking. Add more olive oil (if needed) to make the consistency you want. Taste. Add salt, pepper or more Parmesan to adjust seasonings. You can always tone down the intensity with more olive oil.

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan.

This pesto does not freeze well. I know, I tried. My family thought it was a mystery sauce out of the freezer.

Mussels

This recipe bumps up the flavour of the seafood by cooking the mussels with the partially cooked pasta. You'll want to lick the plate when you're done. There's no fancy name but if you think of one, let me know.

Spaghetti and Mussels

4 lb (2 kg) ripe tomatoes, diced
½ teaspoon coarse or sea salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 lbs (1 kg) mussels
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lb (500g) spaghetti

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
salt and pepper
Parmesan or Pecorino cheese

Sauce
Warm the garlic in the olive oil in a large pot until it is fragrant. Add diced tomatoes and ½ teaspoon coarse salt. Cook on low heat, uncovered, for about an hour. Stir occasionally. If you trust your pan and stove top - this is your time to kick back. A little more time, a little less time won't matter. Just check the consistency and the taste.

After an hour….clean your mussels...
Don’t soak the mussels in water! You want the wonderful briny seafood taste to seep into your dish, not the sink. Scrub mussels and pull off the beards. Once you've pulled off the beard of the mussel you have killed it - so don't murder them until the last minute. Swish them around in fresh water and discard the dirty sandy water. Swishing helps rinse off the grit. Once you have done this a few times the water should be clear.

Discard any mussels with broken shells or that do not close when they are handled or tapped sharply. Now, they are ready to be put into your simmering sauce along with the undercooked spaghetti.

Spaghetti
Under cook the spaghetti in salted water by about 5 minutes less than the package directions. It should be hard in the middle. Add the half cooked spaghetti to the simmering sauce, stir, and then add the cleaned mussels. The spaghetti must sit in the sauce to cook whereas the mussels can be steamed by sitting on top. Cover the pot and cook just until the shells open, about 3-6 minutes. Discard any mussels that do not open. Toss fresh basil into pot and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve with fresh parmesan or a salty pecorino, yum.

Serves 6-8 depending on your appetite and generosity in providing other food.