Foolproof Spaghetti Carbonara

Kyle happened to be in town for my birthday and offered to make dinner. He and I browsed through Cook's Illustrated quickly and found a recipe that sounded good. This is the one we landed on- with bacon, egg, pasta, and cheese where can you go wrong? It was delicious! It was a good thing too that Kyle had made a double batch because there was none left over at the end. 

Foolproof Spaghetti Carbonara

Recipe came from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:

8 Slices Bacon, cut in 1/2-inch pieces

1/2 Cup Water

3 Garlic Cloves, minced

2 1/2 Ounces Pecorino Romano, grated (1 1/4 cups)

3 Large Eggs plus 1 Large Yolk

1 Teaspoon Pepper

1 Pound Spaghetti

1 Teaspoon Salt

Instructions:

1. Bring bacon and water to simmer in 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat; cook until water evaporates and bacon begins to sizzle. about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook until fat renders and bacon browns, 5 to 8 minutes longer. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Strain bacon mixture through fine mesh strainer set in bowl. Set aside bacon mixture. Measure out 1 tablespoon fat and place in medium bowl. Whisk Pecorino, eggs and yolk, and pepper into fat until combined. 

*It's important to work quickly in steps 2 and 3. The heat from the cooking water and the hot spaghetti will "cook" the sauce only if used immediately. 

2. Meanwhile, bring 2 quarts water to boil in Dutch oven. Set colander in large bowl. Add spaghetti and salt to pot: cook, stirring frequently, until al dente. Drain spaghetti in colander set in bowl. reserving cooking water. Pour 1 cup cooking water into liquid measuring cup and discard remainder. Return spaghetti to now-empty bowl. 

3. Slowly whisk 1/2 cup reserved cooking water into Pecorino mixture. Gradually pour Pecorino mixture over spaghetti, tossing to coat. Add bacon mixture and toss to combine. Let spaghetti rest, tossing frequently, until suace has thickened slightly and coats spaghetti, 2 to 4 minutes, adjusting consistency with remaining reserved cooking water if needed. Serve immediately. 

Sumptuous Sunday

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Spaghetti Florentine

Candace made this dish tonight for dinner--super good! I think it would be even better with a little more seasoning, maybe something like Mrs. Dash or Garlic Salt; just to give it a kick. She sided it with garlic bread, my favorite!

Spaghetti Florentine

Recipe came from All Recipes

Spaghetti Florentine

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, crushed
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's® Healthy Request® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
• 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• 4 cups hot cooked spaghetti, cooked without salt
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1. Spray saucepan with vegetable cooking spray. Heat over medium heat 1 min. Add onion, garlic and Italian seasoning and cook until tender.

2. Add soup, pepper and spinach. Heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cover and cook 10 min. or until spinach is tender.

3. Add yogurt and tomato and heat through. Toss with spaghetti. Sprinkle with cheese.

Crockpot Lasagna

My apartment was asked to make a lunch for some of the leaders at church today as they have to stay for several hours and don't have time to go home and eat. We were asked to do some sort of crockpot dish so that it would stay warm for whenever they had a free moment to dash in and eat. I got to looking for some kind of crockpot dish that would involve lots of other things besides the crockpot (such as tortillas, rice, noodles, etc.) and found this recipe for Crockpot Lasagna. I'm a little bummed as I'm trying a new recipe and not tasting it before giving it away to others but it smells good and looks good so I'm going to have to go with faith that it is ;).

*Update: There ended up being a little leftover so I did get to try it. It was pretty good, the only change that I would make is to make a little more of the cottage cheese/egg/milk mixture. I felt like there wasn't very much and it was a little dry because of that.

Crockpot Lasagna

Recipe came from Tasty Kitchen

Crockpot Lasagna

1 pound Hamburger (browned)

1 whole Onion, Diced

2 cloves Garlic, Diced

1 jar (24 Oz. Jar) Spaghetti Sauce

½ cups Water

1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes

½ teaspoons Italian Seasoning

½ teaspoons Dried Parsley

½ teaspoons Salt

¼ teaspoons Pepper

8 ounces, weight Mushrooms, Sliced (optional)

2 cups Ricotta Cheese (I was too cheap so used cottage cheese)

¼ cups Milk

1 whole Egg

5 ounces, weight Shredded Parmesan Cheese

2 cups Mozzarella Cheese

1 pound Lasagna Noodles

1. Brown hamburger, onions and garlic. Drain grease and set aside.
2. Mix spaghetti sauce, water, and tomatoes together in a bowl. Add Italian seasonings, parsley, and salt and pepper. Dump meat into the sauce. Add mushrooms if using them.
3. Combine ricotta cheese, milk and egg together. Add parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, mixing completely.
4. Line the bottom of the crock pot with 1 cup of sauce. Place uncooked noodles on top of the sauce, completely covering the bottom. Add cheese mixture on top of noodles. Top with 1 ½ cups of sauce. Repeat two more times, ending with sauce. Add a handful of cheese to the top.
5. Cook for 4 hours on low heat.

Creamy Chicken Pasta

WARNING! Extremely fatty goodness!

This recipe was so delicious but next time definitely needs the salad to offset all the different dairies that are put into it. It's a good thing that I served this at dinner group because if I tried eating it all by myself I would have been in major trouble!

Creamy Chicken Pasta

Recipe came from Tasty Kitchen

Creamy Chicken Pasta

1-1/2 pounds Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast

2 Tablespoons Mrs. Dash seasoning

1 pound Pasta

8 Tablespoons Butter

1 medium Onion, finely diced

1 teaspoon Salt

Pepper, to taste

4 cloves Garlic, finely minced

8 ounces Light Cream Cheese

1/2 cup Sundried Tomatoes (packed in Oil), finely diced---I was too cheap to buy these

2 cups Low Fat Half and Half

1/2 pound Cooked Bacon, crumbled (I didn't measure this I just put a handful in of Costco's pre-cooked and crumbled bacon)

1-1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

Sprinkle Mrs. Dash Italian seasoning on both sides of skinless boneless chicken breasts. Place breasts in a medium sized skillet and cook on medium high heat until cooked through, about 5-10 minutes depending on thickness. Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes. Shred meat with two forks or by hand. Then set aside. If the pan is dry, while cooking, I usually add a couple Tablespoons of water to the pan.

In a large Dutch oven bring some salted water to a boil to cook the pasta to al dente (according to package instructions for al dente). Drain pasta but reserve 1 cup of the pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a large skillet over medium low heat. Add onions, salt and pepper to butter and saute until onions are soft and starting to “melt” in the pan, about 10 minutes. Do not let onions brown. Add garlic and cook for 5 more minutes at low to medium low heat. Add the cream cheese to the pan in pieces and stir until melted. Add the diced sundried tomatoes to the pan along with the half and half. Stir until combined. Bring to a low simmer. Add the shredded chicken, bacon and parmesan cheese to the pan. Stir until cheese is melted. Season sauce with additional salt or pepper if necessary.

At this point add in pasta water if it is needed. Add water bit by bit. You do not want the sauce to become too thin. (I have added a bit more half and half as well if I forgot to hold back the pasta water.) Add the cooked pasta into sauce and toss. Pour this into a beautiful pasta bowl and garnish with a little fresh cracked pepper on top. Enjoy!