Carbonara

A few days ago I made what I now know was the last meal I will ever cook in this place! I write sitting on the edge of a blow up mattress (which very 'lovingly' deflates at a slow pace ) with no other furniture around and our suitcases in the other room. In 6 days time we fly out to Australia for 3months! How exciting! Not so good for my blog of late though, seeing as there hasn't been much cooking and little time to write. However, the last cooked meal is now getting it's chance. 

We came home fairly late from being part of a live audience for a tv show and I was rushing to make dinner, this was on Monday. I was also on the phone to relatives in the UK wanting to talk before we left, so I had my handsfree thingy in and was whizzing about the kitchen at the same time. 

So, carbonara, very easy to make, tastes delicious. I started by frying up half a packet of bacon that I trimmed some fat off and cut into cubes, fry it till it is nice and crispy. Then remove it to drain on paper towel and pour away 90% of the oil. I left just enough to cook the onions in instead of using boring normal oil without the bacon flavour! Cook 2 medium sized onions, fairly finely cut. Slice a carton of mushrooms (pint) and add those to the onions, and then whatever peas you have left in the freezer! That was about 3/4 cup, don't throw the whole bag in if you have a full bag! I roughly cut up about 5 cloves of garlic too and threw those in to keep the vampires away and because we love garlic! I really noticed the difference between the fresh and the lazy version I normally use that has crushed or chopped garlic in a jar. Go fresh. Every time.

For the sauce part I was going to finish off the eggs that we had, which were 3, but one turned out to be a little funny (pink white part and a blood spot) so I tossed it out and then there were 2. I only used the yolks, helps make a nice thick, rich sauce. I whisked these 3 yolks together with about 1/2 cup of pouring cream, 18% stuff, I am sure the even thicker would be fine but I went with this. Add some pepper to it. When the onions, mushrooms and peas are cooked throw over the egg/cream mix and stir till it cooks. I was also able to use up the parmesan in this recipe too, about 1/3 cup of grated parm goes in too and melts into the sauce. That is pretty much it. If I had any Worcestershire sauce left I would have added a few dashes of it, and also if I had some dijon mustard I would have put a tbsp in, but this was not the case when you are running your fridge and cupboards empty! At the very end, before you add pasta, throw the crispy bacon bits back in.

I made my carbonara with penne pasta, I find it really holds the sauce well. Cook it el dente, drain it, toss it into the sauce part and stir till it is all coated nicely. You want to eat it straight away as the sauce tends to solidify as it cools with the cheese in it etc. When we both went back for seconds we heated it up to make it a nice saucy-ness again. 

I highly recommend this dish in general, it was also wonderful for finishing up items in the fridge and cupboards too. The sauce is so rich with the cream and eggs and cheese but it isn't drowning anything, just enough to coat things, and you get the occasional crunch from the bacon bit, wonderful! I took some wonderful pictures of this dish too but I was given an early birthday present (which was a new camera that is waterproof, and dust proof and shock proof and freeze proof - just in time for the holiday!) and my old cables disappeared into a box in the move before I downloaded the pictures! So, I am afraid, carbonara is picture less, but you can imagine how great it was!

I am going to try and write out the rough recipe here for ease of use if anyone does want to use it:

1/2 bag penne pasta

1/2 packet of bacon, fat trimmed and cubed

5 cloves garlic

2 medium onions fairly finely cut

1 carton mushrooms sliced

3/4 cup frozen peas 

1/3 cup grated parm, or more to taste or top with

1/2 cup 18% cream

2 egg yolks

salt and pepper

few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp dijon mustard