Go-to meals are a thing. As in - everyone has some dish they make when out of ideas, when want something that doesn't need thinking (pancakes for many), something they are praised for, something simple. Or a few of those. Right?
Well, pasta carbonara has become quite frequent in this house. Figures, since it does tick all the boxes - quick and simple to make; can store all necessary ingredients for a long time; guests can't get enough; got such a specific "recipe" worked out that zero thinking is required... Or, well, should be...
So the fact that when making it yesterday I first managed to set out wooden spoon on fire closely followed by melting our silicone panlid, may give some indication of why people shouldn't be cooking in a pre-migraine state. (Hey, in my defence, how was I supposed to know, the visual-impairment-bs hadn't started yet and I was hungry!) Yey for gas stoves... (Ah, I haven't gotten around to writing about the fish-and-chips adventure yet, have I.)
Ingredients (1 meal for 2 ppl):
- 5 handfuls of pasta (GF in my case)
- 1/2 pack of smoked bacon (not a clue how many grams that is, the pack from our shop gives us two meals)
- 1/2 pack of hard cheese (original is a mix of parmesan and, and, shoot, forgot the other, of course, but whoever would be willing to pay that much; any hard salty slightly crystallizing cheese will do; again I just take our local pack and split it per two meals, will try to remember to check next time and add the numbers)
- 1 egg
- black pepper (freshly ground is best)
- 100-200 ml white cooking wine (optional but very yummi)
- 1-2 tsp garlic paste (optional, or fresh cloves, dried flakes or powder, but the paste is by far the simplest to use and doesn't lose in taste to the fresh)
Instructions:
- chop the bacon into thin strips (the kind you want in your pasta, uniform so the fat would melt out at the same pace from all pieces) and toss it into a pan
- fry the clean bacon strips until most of the fat is out and the meaty parts are browning
- mixing the bacon is quite essential, at least on any but the most high-tech pans... just, you know, use the lid as a splash-shield and maybe wear some clothes (something I frequently struggle to remember, haha), because that thing WILL cracle and jump and do other menacing things...
- get a clean jar (preferably heat-proof), pour all the extra melted bacon fat in there, let cool, refrigerate and use in other cooking for adding awesome taste
- add garlic paste, some pepper onto the pan, give it a minute, then add wine and keep frying until liquid is gone and bacon strips are crispy brown
- in the meanwhile thinly grate the cheese into a suitable sized bowl, add the raw egg, mix and set aside
- at the same time also boil the pasta to your prefered hardness
- after boiling do NOT rinse pasta and do NOT drain all of the water, leave a thin layer into the bottom of the pot to form into a sauce
- toss seasoned bacon and egg-cheese into the pasta and mixmixmix
- IF the cheese isn't melting at all, put it back onto fire for a second, otherwise leave it be, no further cooking!
- into bowls it goes, don't forget to add some freshly ground black pepper on top, it makes a world of difference
All in all this yumminess takes about 20 minutes to make, and like mentioned, all ingredients have a very long fridge-life.
And for the love of all that is holy, do NOT put sour cream into this.
I mean, I love sour cream sauces, but those are a different dish, not this one. Do NOT ruin this one!
Oh, also - quality of bacon matters a lot here, real fatty smoked one gives the absolute best result, but have also used low-quality ham and just fried it with the smoky fat collected from previous times.
No need for added salt, the bacon and cheese are salty enough.
That should be it.
Hm, looks like I like the word not a lot today ;P
Cheers,
Hedi
