Made this last night....Yummy!
Pasta Carbonara
(Rachael Ray recipe)
Ingredients:
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
pound pasta, such as spaghetti or rigatoni
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (enough to coat bottom of pan)
1/4 pound pancetta (Italian bacon), chopped
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 to 6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 large egg yolks
Freshly grated Romano cheese
Handful of finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
Directions:
1. Put a large saucepot of water on to boil. Add a liberal amount of salt and the pasta. Cook to al dente, about 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and pancetta. Brown pancetta 2 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Add wine and stir up all the pan drippings.
3. In a separate bowl, beat yolks, then add 1 large ladleful (about 1/2 cup) of the pasta cooking water. This tempers the eggs and keeps them from scrambling when added to the pasta.
4. Drain pasta well and add it directly to the skillet with pancetta and oil. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta. Toss rapidly to coat the pasta without cooking the egg. Remove pan from heat and add a big handful of cheese, lots of pepper, and a little salt. Continue to toss and turn the pasta until it soaks up egg mixture and thickens, 1 to 2 minutes. Garnish with parsley and extra grated Romano.
(The key to this dish, after I read around on the net, is to start cooking everything when you put the pasta in the water to boil.(Quick dish:once water is boiling you are eating in 10 minutes) I also read of putting 1 cup, or so, of the cheese directly into the egg and water mixture first - then pour it into the pan. I made this for 2 - with a half a box of pasta but used the same amount of sauce)
Lots of freshly ground pepper - that’s what makes this dish.
Quick and Easy with a cool fancy name...
Just made this tonight for the family dinner. This is a nice hearty and rich chowder that just about everyone loves!
Chicken Corn Chowder
1 tbs. oil
2 tbs. butter
1 cup of onions, diced
1 cup of celery, diced
3 tbs. flour
4 cups of chicken stock
3 cups of potatoes, diced
2 cups of carrots, cut into bite size pieces
3 cups of corn
3 cups of chicken meat, torn or cut into small pieces
4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
3 cups of cream
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp sugar (optional)
Sauté onions and celery in the butter and oil. When vegetables are tender, stir in the flour to make a roux and let it cook for a minute or two to get the flour taste out. Add chicken stock and cook until slightly thickened. Add potatoes and carrots and let them cook until almost done. Add salt and pepper. When potatoes and carrots are almost cooked, add corn, chicken meat, and bacon. Simmer until corn is cooked and everything is heated through. Check seasonings and see if any additional salt or pepper is needed. If the corn is not particularly sweet I sometimes add the sugar here. If the corn is sweet, I skip the sugar. When I am just about ready to serve the chowder I add the cream, and bring it back up to serving temperature.
Serve with crackers, French bread, biscuits or corn bread and enjoy!
Variations: try substituting ham or turkey instead of the chicken (great for leftovers from thanksgiving).
Money saving notes: Whenever I cook a turkey or chicken I save the carcass, and all the bones with whatever meat is left on them that doesn’t slice off easily. I put it in the freezer in a zip lock bag. I sometimes have to break a turkey carcass in two and put it in two separate bags. I do the same with bones from any meat I cook. I also put any leftover meat that I am not going to use right away in zip lock bags in my freezer as well. Every so often I will pull out as many of one type of bone or carcass that I can fit in my big stock pot and boil it down to make stock. I strain the bones out of the stock and pull off the meat to use in soups, stews, and casseroles to stretch my food dollars. Leftover veggies like corn, peas, carrots, etc., can also be thrown in zip lock bags in the freezer, then when I make soup, I have a variety of veggies I can just throw in at the last minute and heat through.