Friday, April 10, 2015

Our pasta carbonara.


Pasta carbonara is good and custary, you would think you might be eating dessert. If your pan is hot enough, they eggs will temper (aka cook) in the sauce as you are maiking it.
Around for a zillion years, this is a simple dish that people have eaten most noticeably during and after World War II when food was hard to come by. Legend has it that powered eggs spared by solder's passing through was the basis for the eggs. They also used pig jowls for the meat of the dish. It was made in coal fired stoves or what be might called barbecue pits today. Though, we will make it on a regular stove. Rumor has it that they used penne (edges make you think of a quilled pen) shaped noodles as it was easier to toss than the long stringed pasta.
Notes: Lidia of Lidia's Italy like lots of onions in their version pasta carbonara and they only use the yolk of the eggs. She also talks about in her version of the history of pasta carbonara, that coal miner's wives who had coal dust in their hair as they cooked coal ust would fall in the dish as they were making it and that is where the name came from. Everyone has their own story.
Heard yet another story of where the lady who brought the coal around would fix this dish with lots of ground pepper so that it seemed like there was coal dust in the dish. Black pepper and cheese go good together.
Also see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Our-food-instructables/

Step 1: What's needed:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon cooking oil.
4 ounces (1/2 cup) turkey bacon, diced. (4 to 5 strips).
1/2 pound (1 cup) spaghetti or pasta. (if using dried spaghetti and the package is one pound, use half a package).
1 1/2 cups of the water from the cooked pasta.
3 large eggs at room temperature and lightly beaten.
3/4 cup grated home made cheese.
Good grinding coarse black pepper.
Salt to taste.

Step 2: Pasta:

Boil your pasta in plenty of water till it is to the tooth of your preference.

Step 3: Bacon prep.

Cut up the bacon in small but not too small pieces.
Put oil in the pan and fry the bacon till semi crisp.
Turn off and remove from the heat while you prepare the eggs.

Step 4: Egg preparation.

Step 5: The main event.

Take about a cup of water from the pasta pot.
Drain the pasta and then put in the pan with the cooked warm bacon.
Add a bit of water to moisten the pan and make it easier for the eggs to be tossed in.
Stir that around.
Add the creamy eggs to the pan and mix well.
Grate the home made cheese into the pan.
Add a generous amount of pepper, but not too much. Cheese loves pepper.
Add a tiny bit of salt to taste.

Hint: If you put too much water, you can always toast some bread and grind it up. Then put it in the dish to absorm the liquid. You can also heat the pan back up gently as to not scramble the eggs but evaporate the liquid.

Step 6: Serve.

On the plate, add a salad or vegetables if you have some.
Serve out the pasta/
Add more cheese if you like.
Eat.

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