Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Mick made an amazing discovery recently, we can download British TV programs from the internet and watch them on our TV (telly to us Brits). If you want to know more about it, see my post on http://grandlakeink.blogspot.com

This week I have been watching British chef, Gary Rhodes, in a series called "Rhodes Around China," and what a fabulous series it was. Gary Rhodes was just coming to prominence as a TV chef when I left England, and I loved his punk rock spiky hair-do and his cheeky grin. Obviously he’s older now, but aren’t we all? The spiky hair has gone, but he is still one kick-ass chef. I really look forward to watching more British telly, and more British cooking progs in the future.

Last night we had pasta for dinner, Mick always calls this dish, bacon and egg pasta. It’s a popular Italian dish in England, though I don’t recall ever seeing on an Italian menu here. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, I lead a sheltered life. ;-)

And the good news, after a short lay-off my neighbor, Corky’s hens have begun producing again, so we had free-range eggs for this recipe. We have been buying organic eggs at the store but they are very expensive, so keep up the good work girls.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara



This dish is not terribly photogenic, but believe me it tastes great!

Ingredients:

8 ounces spaghetti
8 slices thick bacon, chopped into 1-inch pieces
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 eggs
½ cup + 2 tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, chopped + a little for garnish.
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add spaghetti, and boil gently for 6 -7 minutes until spaghetti is al dente. Drain and toss spaghetti with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Set aside.
• While spaghetti cooks, in a large skillet over a medium high heat fry chopped bacon in its own juices until crisp. Remove bacon from pan and drain on paper towels.
• Discard bacon grease and wipe skillet clean with paper towels.
• In the same skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil, add onion and sauté over a medium heat until onion is translucent.
• Add garlic and sauté for a further minute.
• Return bacon to pan, add reserved spaghetti, cream, parsley, and season with black pepper, heat gently, stirring often.
• In a small bowl beat eggs, add to pan and toss all ingredients with a large fork. Cook until eggs begin to set.
• Add ½ cup of Parmesan cheese, and toss mixture again until cheese is combined.
• Transfer spaghetti carbonara to a warm serving dish, top with remaining Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.