Pasta Carbonara

CATION: DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU ARE READY TO GAIN 2 POUNDS!!

The surgeon general should require that label be put on all Pasta Carbonara recipes.  I mean just look at the cast of characters for this episode.

Pasta, butter and bacon, how can you go wrong? 

I'll admit I have never had Pasta Carbonara but I have heard a lot about it and how good it its.  I used to work with a guy that said his wife made the best Pasta Carbonara in the world (but he said that about everything him or his wife cooked) and he got me interested.  It wasn't long after that I was cruising through Pioneer Woman's cooking  blog and came across her recipe for Pasta Carbonara.  It certainly sounded good, looked good and more importantly the comments people left said it was some of the best Pasta Carbonara they ever had.  I was sold, I had my Pasta Carbonara recipe. 

I did tweaked the recipe a bit by using ingredients I had on hand so I didn't have to go the store and the recipe at the bottom is how I made the Pasta Carbonara.  I used fresh thyme instead off parsley and of course I used some of that good Traders Joe's Pasta, lemon pepper this time.

This is really a pretty simple recipe to make and another bonus is it doesn't take very long.  I think the longest wait was for the bacon to cook.  While the bacon is cooking it gives me time to slice some garlic, lots of garlic, so much garlic you won't have any trouble with vampires for the night.

It is hard to beat the smell in the kitchen while cooking, bacon and garlic. Do they make a candle scent for that?  If not maybe they should.

My biggest worry making Carbonara is the raw eggs you mix the pasta with.  I guess the idea is to put the pasta in the egg mixture while it is still hot and it will cook the eggs and give a nice, thick, creamy mixture.  So how bad could it be anyway?  I once watched Rocky down some raw eggs while he was training for big fight so I figured a couple of raw or partially cooked eggs couldn't hurt me.  But as I found out the hot pasta will cook the eggs and all turns out fine in the end.

It sure did look good when I got done but the real test was yet to come, the taste testing.  It's hard to rate this recipe because I have never ate Pasta Carbonara before but I can tell you I liked it, liked it a lot.  I will definitely make this again, just not to often because I think I gained another 2 pounds writing this post.

Pasta Carbonara

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients:

1/2 pound Smoky Bacon

8 oz. Linguine Pasta

1 whole medium Onion, diced

4 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 cup White Wine (or Substitute Another 1/2 Cup Of Stock)

1/2 cup Chicken Stock
2 whole Eggs
3/4 Parmesan Cheese
1/4 stick unsalted Butter
1 Teaspoon fresh Thyme
½ to 1 Tablespoon Black Pepper

Preparation Instructions

Slice up bacon into pieces about one inch wide. Cook until browned and crisp.

Bring to as boil salted water and add linguine and cook until al dente, tender-firm.

After the bacon is cooked, remove it from the pan with a slotted spoon. Add the diced onions into the bacon renderings. Stir and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes, remove from the pan and discard the bacon renderings.

Turn the heat up to high and as soon as the pan begins to smoke, pour in the white wine. Whisk until pan is thoroughly deglazed and add 1 cup of chicken stock. Return bacon, onion and garlic back to the pan. Turn heat down to medium and let simmer.

Crack eggs into a large bowl and add the Parmesan cheese and thyme. Leave a little Parmesan Mix well.

Drain the pasta being sure the pasta is very hot. Add the pasta to the egg mixture and then add the bacon/onion mixture, add butter and mix it all together well. Pepper to taste. Garnish with parmesan.

Grilled Chicken, Roasted Red Pepper and Spinach Pizza

Over the last few years I have come to realize how lucky or spoiled I was durning my high school years and young adult years.  Back in those days we use to cruise the small town of Clare and by the end of the night it would usually end at the local pizza shop, B & J's and later the Corner Store.  Both had great pizza with the Corner Store pizza having my most favorite crust.  Rumor had it their secret ingredient was sugar, I don't know what it was but it sure was good.  Since my earlier adult years I have had several pizzas for many different places and there is only one place I would rate close to these two eateries. Believe it or not it comes from the little ole town of Plymouth, Wisconsin at a place called De O'Malleys. 

De O'Malleys had good pizza with the crust just the way I like it, traditional style or soft, chewy type.  I'm not a fan of the thin, crispy type of crust and that is what you typically find here in Rockville Maryland.  Oh sure I can find traditional style crust but the pizza is something I wouldn't write home about.  For me I like a little more crust under my pizza toppings and I like the edge of the crust to rise up like bread when it cooks.  I like that golden chunk of cooked pizza dough around the outside a good pizza it reminds me of fresh bread that just came out of the oven.

I know a pizza can't be good without good toppings but the foundation of the pizza begins with the dough.  I have been trying for years to make a good pizza dough without much success until lately.  Recently I came across Emeril's pizza dough from the Food Network web site.  It is a simple recipe with ingredients found in the normal persons kitchen.  I made the dough a few weeks ago and I though it was alright but it was missing something to be that outstanding pizza dough.  I started to do some experimenting and here is what I have come up with so far, a blend of 50% all purpose flour and 50% whole wheat flour.  I'll bet you are wondering how whole wheat flour can be part of a great pizza dough?  I'll be honest the pizza dough is better without the whole flour but I am trying to eat healthier these days and if I want to eat pizza this is my compromise. 

The other change I made from Emeril's dough is I use honey instead of sugar for a sweetener.  I also put a little fresh garlic in the dough this last time I made pizza.  What I came up with was a tasty little crust with a hint of garlic.  I think the honey goes well with the whole wheat theme too and when honey is involved that's never a bad thing.

If you notice in the photo to the right I also cook my pizzas in a cast iron skillet.  Why?  Well, as big sis found out in her Rosemary Dinner Rolls when bread dough is teamed up with heavy cast iron the bread, rolls or in this case the pizza crust comes out golden brown and delicious.  For me the cast iron makes it almost fool proof unless you totally neglect the call of your kitchen timer or the obnoxious screaming of your smoke detector. 

From here on out it's all downhill with the toppings you can choose almost anything you like.  No more are pepperoni, ham, mushrooms or mozzarella cheese must use toppings.  Pizzas come in many, many different varieties these days and lately my choice for toppings have been grilled chicken and roasted red peppers.  I have been experimenting with different cheeses lately with my favorite so far being asiago.  But for this particular pizza I found some fontal cheese at Whole Foods Market this week.  It is similar to mozzarella with a little more distinct flavor than mozzarella.  This pizza also included a handful of spinach (since I didn't have any fresh basil and the spinach was sitting in the ice box begging to be used) and I topped it all off with a little grated parmesan reggiano cheese. 

Overall a pretty good effort on the pizza front for me I think I am making progress.

Jock's Grilled Chicken Pizza

(Printable Recipe)

Ingredients

1 cup warm water, about 110 degrees F

1 packet dry yeast

2 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups general purpose flour

1 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cloves garlic, minced fine

4 boneless skinless chicken thighs

Emeril's Essence

1 small jar roasted red peppers

1 cup pizza sauce

8 oz. asiago cheese. sliced

1 cup fresh spinach

½ cup Parmesan cheese

Directions

To the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, add the warm water and yeast and honey and stir to dissolve the yeast. Add the olive oil, flour, garlic, and salt. Mix with the dough hook until the dough comes together and climbs up the dough hook. Remove the dough from the mixer and, on a floured surface, form into a smooth ball shape. Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover with a clean towel. Place in a warm, draft free place for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the dough doubles in size.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Meanwhile sprinkle chicken thighs with Emeril's Essence liberally.  Place chicken in oven and cook for approximately 30 minutes.  Or better yet cook outside on grill for 30 minutes.  Let chicken cool and slice.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll to desired size. Spray or brush 12” cast iron skillet with olive oil. Place dough in cast iron skillet and let drape over the edges. Cut dough around top of skillet and fold down along edge to form an edge for the pizza. Spread pizza sauce over dough, layer cheese, add roasted red peppers, chicken and spinach. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Place pizza in oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes and slice.

Penne Pasta with Braised Beef Short Ribs

Since the blogs have really slowed down from everyone except big sis I thought it might be time to bring back my Sunday Dinner Episodes. I have been thinking about starting the episodes back up for some time now and since fall is here this is a good time. It's been busy the last couple of months with the bike riding vacation and another weekend spent in Pittsburgh with big sis. Other weekends were spent making apple butter and cranberry glaze, all for later.

But this past weekend I finally had time and thought I would get started on Season 2 of Sunday Dinner. Season 2 promises to be hipper, smarter, more colorful, and down right tasty. Well maybe not the first 3 but definitely more tasty. I will be trying recipes I stumble across, see on Food Network and maybe even a couple of my own concoctions I dream up.

I hope everyone is ready because it's time to roll....................

This weeks Sunday Dinner comes from our good friend on the Food Network Giada and is called Penne Pasta with Braised Beef Short Ribs. I watched this show a couple of weeks ago on Giada's new show called Giada at Home. As soon as I saw her pulling out the beef short ribs she had my attention. If you have never had beef short ribs you are really missing a treat.

I discovered beef short ribs by accident about three years ago when I was looking for oxtail for a recipe by Emeril. I couldn't find oxtail that day so the next best thing I found were the beef short ribs. Once I cooked them up for me and the wife we were both sold and have been cooking with them ever since. The wife will even tell you they are here favorite type of meat (me personally I still consider a thick ribeye steak my favorite type of meat).

Enough BS let's get on with this weeks episode.

First we must introduce this weeks cast of characters.



I think I got everything into the picture this time. To be honest I normally forget an item or two and if you can keep a secret I will tell you one. I actually had another Sunday Dinner Episode that was to be my season premier but I forgot one of the main ingredients in the cast of character lineup. Not only that but I was going to do an episode on the cranberry glaze and I forgot one of the main ingredients in that cast too. Yep, now I know how big sis feels.

If you notice in the above photo the beef ribs are whole lengths. Normally you will find them cut into 2 to 3" pieces in the store but when I went to Whole Foods to pick these up the other day their band saw was broke and I had to take them whole, and beef ribs aren't something you just cut with a knife. If you notice in the next photo I am using my cast iron frying pan to cook in instead of my cast iron dutch oven. The ribs wouldn't fit in the dutch oven and barely fit in the frying pan after a little trimming here and there.

Start with a little oil in the pan, I always use extra virgin olive oil.



Brown the ribs....



Chop up some onions.......



.....and garlic while browning the ribs.



Start cooking the onions and garlic while......



....chopping up the tomatoes.



Dump everything into the pan, if you want the real directions read the recipe at the end of this post.



And 2-1/2 hours later, presto look what we have.



Take the meat out, get rid of the fat on top and blend the rest in the food processor. I got to be honest if the food processor is involved I'm there, I like watching the food processor do its job.



Pull the meat from the bones, shred.......



......and return the meat back to the pot or in this case the frying pan.



Now it's time to cook up the pasta. I don't think you need directions on how to cook pasta but here is an action shot of pasta cooking.



Pretty exciting eh?

Next we cut up some parsley and shred some fresh parmesan-reggiano cheese.



Put it all together and here is what you got.



Look good?

Here is a closer look.



Mmmm, it was good, good enough to rate a 4 out of 5 forks. Changes? Sure I will make changes to suit my taste next time but like always I try to stay true to the original recipe the first time.

If you want a real treat make enough so you will have leftovers for a quick meal on a weeknight. After we eat a meal like this on Sunday we always mix the pasta and whatever we fixed with it together and stick it in the ice box. That's what I did this time and when I pulled it out last night to warm up I thought it was looking a little dry so I went to work.

The first thing I did was open the ice box and staring me straight in the face were fresh mushrooms. 'Click' the light bulb goes on, "Mushroom gravy" I say. Quickly I make up some mushroom gravy and dump it in the pan with the short beef rib mixture. It's good but I am thinking what else can I do? I open the ice box again and what do you know staring me in the face again was sour cream. "Oh yeah" I think "Here we go, this will kick it up a notch." I throw in a couple of spoons of sour cream, ok so they were big spoons. I let everything cook for a couple of more minutes, throw it all on a plate and call it Tuesday night leftovers.

But wait a minute, "HOLY COW" I say to the wife "This stuff is good, real good." Amazing what you can do with leftovers. I had to give it a 4.75 forks out of 5. Why not 5 forks? Well I got another idea for that last 1/4 of a point and you will just have to wait for a future Sunday Dinner Episode or maybe I should call it Tuesday Night Leftovers and tell you about it then.

Penne with Braised Short Ribs

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients
4 pounds beef short ribs
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
5 Roma tomatoes cut into eighths
1 cup red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 pound penne pasta
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Place an oven rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Season the ribs with salt and pepper. In a large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or ovenproof stock pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. In batches, add the ribs and brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the ribs and set aside. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes, wine and mustard. Bring the mixture to a boil and scrape up the brown bits that cling to the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Return the ribs to the pan. Add the beef broth, cover the pan and place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours until the meat is fork-tender and falls easily from the bone.

Remove the ribs from the cooking liquid. Using a large spoon, remove any excess fat from the surface of the cooking liquid. Using a ladle, transfer the cooking liquid in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the mixture is smooth. Pour the sauce into a saucepan and keep warm over low heat. Remove the meat from the bones. Discard the bones. Using 2 forks shred the meat into small pieces. Stir the shredded meat into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and place in a large serving bowl. Using a slotted spoon, remove the meat from the sauce and add to the pasta. Pour 1 cup of the sauce over the pasta. Toss well and thin out the pasta with more sauce, if needed. Sprinkle the pasta with Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley before serving.

Printed from FoodNetwork.com on Sat Oct 17 2009

© 2009 Scripps Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved

B-L-T Pasta

Every now and then I get a stray magazine showing up in my mailbox and recently I received a magazine called Cuisine at Home. It looks like a good magazine with plenty of good ideas and tips and of course some good looking recipes. I eyed this recipe a couple of weeks ago and decided to give it a try. It combined two of my favorite meals, bacon lettuce and tomato sandwiches and anything pasta hence the title B-L-T Pasta.

Now let's face it, anytime you throw a little pork fat or bacon in anything it is bound to taste better and that's why this recipe caught my eye.



My pictures don't look as appetizing as the pictures in the magazine but you'll get the idea.

Let's get started with the cast of characters:



A pretty darn good looking cast other than the hot dog buns. Hot dog buns? What is he doing with the hot dog buns? Well, since I was too cheap to buy the french bread called for in the recipe and I had some left over hot dog buns guess what I did? Yep I improvised, overcame, adapted and made bread crumbs from hot dog buns. I actually saw this once on Food Network, probably Good Eats.



I cut up and toasted the buns first.........



.......then I put them into the food processor along with a clove of garlic and pulsed them into bread crumbs.



While the hot dog buns were toasting I took the time to cut up some garlic and bacon.





Once the bread is toasted it is time for the bacon.



After the bacon it is the tomatoes turn and then the leeks.



Next add the cooked spaghetti, thyme, and spinach.



Finally I think we're done.



Pretty darn good meal too and well worth making again, even with the hot dog buns substituted for the fancy french bread. Don't make this without the bread crumbs it really makes the dish. I am rating this meal a 4.5 out of 5 forks.



B-L-T Pasta

For the garlic bread crumbs:
1 clove of garlic
1 cup French bread cubes
1 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste

For the pasta:
2 strips thick sliced bacon – diced
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
½ tsp sugar
½ cup thinly sliced leeks
¼ cup dry white wine
½ cup chicken broth
1 tsp red wine vinegar
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
4 oz. dry bucatini or spaghetti
1 cup fresh spinach leaves
¼ tsp minced fresh thyme

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the bucatini.

Mince garlic for the bread crumbs in a food processor. Add cubed bread, and process until coarse. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium; add crumbs and toast until golden, 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Season with salt and set aside.

Sauté bacon for the pasta in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook until crisp and then drain pieces on a paper towel-lined plate. Pour off all but 1 tbsp drippings.

Caramelize tomatoes and sugar in the drippings over medium heat. Cook until tomatoes begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add leeks, sauté until wilted, 3-4 minutes.

Deglaze skillet with wine; simmer until liquid is nearly evaporated. Add the broth, vinegar, and pepper flakes. Simmer until liquid is reduced by a third, about 5 minutes.

Cook bucatini in boiling water according to the package directions. Add spinach, thyme, and bacon pieces to sauce. Transfer cooked pasta from cooking water to the skillet using tongs. Toss to coat with sauce. Season with salt and then divide pasta between plates. Sprinkle pasta with reserved bacon pieces and bread crumbs before serving.

From Cuisine at Home Magazine Free Preview Issue

Giada's Classic Italian Lasagna

If you remember a couple of weeks ago we made some simple tomato sauce that could be used in a variety of different ways. This is one of the ways to use it. The recipe for the tomato sauce is at the bottom of this post just in case you missed the episode where I made it a couple of weeks ago.

This is another Giada recipe and I must say one of my favorites from her. I made this lasagna a couple of weeks ago and froze it to take it with me to Michigan for one of our meals during Christmas week.

If you have a fast internet connection you should be able to keep up with me but if you have a slow dial up connection good luck. There are over 20 pictures in this episode so we better get this show on the road if we want to finish tonight.

We must first introduce you to the cast of characters for tonights episode.



Quite a good looking cast this week eh? I don't make this very often for one big reason, it's very time consuming. Let's keep rolling.

We start by making the bechamel sauce.



It's not very hard it just takes some stirring. Once it is all cooked I add a cup and a half of our tomato sauce we made a couple of days ago. This makes it turn a orange color as you will see in a few more pictures.

Next, time to brown the sausage. This is where I differ from Giada's recipe because I use a 1/2 pound of Hot Italian Sausage and 1/2 pound of Sweet Italian Sausage.



Next it is time to drop the pasta noodles in some boiling water. My choice today is whole wheat. I find the whole wheat is a good balance to the whole milk, cheese, and real butter in this recipe to make it somewhat healthy. Well maybe not but it makes me feel better.



After our meat is browned and the pasta is cooking it's time to mix up the ricotta mixture.



Now it's time to assemble, try to keep up if you can.

Here is everything we need to assemble our lasagna.



Notice the orange sauce in the upper right corner? That is our bechamel sauce with the simple tomato sauce added.

First a little bechamel sauce on the bottom of the pan.



Next a layer of noodles.



Meat....



Now cheese, in my case provolone.



More noodles.



Ricotta mixture.



Spinach. More healthy food.



More bechamel suace.



More noodles.



Are you still with me?

Some more sauce and ricotta mixture. If you actually read the recipe down below you will realize I got a little out of order but does it really matter in the end?



More cheese on top.



Yippe Kay Yayee where done assembling and time to cook.



As much as I wanted to eat this as soon as it came out of the oven I knew I had to save it for the following week. This lasagna was traveling to Michigan to be eaten during Christmas week by the family.

Time to fast forward to the following week and once again we catch the lasagna coming out of the oven once again only this time it is 450 miles from the original oven it was cooked in.



Pretty simple from here just stick it in the oven, set the table.....



....cut into nice squares.....



...and eat.

Pretty darn good too. This is my favorite lasagna I love the spinach in it. If you have the time and you like lasagna I would recommend this recipe to you.

Classic Italian Lasagna

Béchamel Sauce:
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons for the lasagna
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups whole milk at room temperature
Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce, recipe follows
Salt and white pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound ground chuck beef
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese
3 large eggs
1 pound lasagna sheets, cooked al dente
2 packages (10 ounces each) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Béchamel sauce:
In a 2-quart pot, melt 5 tablespoons of butter over medium heat. When butter has completely melted, add the flour and whisk until smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly to prevent any lumps from forming. Continue to simmer and whisk over medium heat until the sauce is thick, smooth and creamy, about 10 minutes. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of wooden spoon. Remove from heat and add the nutmeg and tomato sauce. Stir until well combined and check for seasoning. Set aside and allow to cool completely.

In a sauté pan, heat extra-virgin olive oil. When almost smoking, add the ground beef and season with salt and pepper. Brown meat, breaking any large lumps, until it is no longer pink. Remove from heat and drain any excess fat. Set aside and allow to cool completely.

In a medium sized bowl, thoroughly mix the ricotta and eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Into the bottom of a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, spread 1/3 of the béchamel sauce. Arrange the pasta sheets side by side, covering the bottom of the baking dish. Evenly spread a layer of all the ricotta mixture and then a layer of all the spinach. Arrange another layer of pasta sheets and spread all the ground beef on top. Sprinkle 1/2 the mozzarella cheese on top of the beef. Spread another 1/3 of the béchamel sauce. Arrange the final layer of pasta sheets and top with remaining béchamel, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Cut the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter into 1/4-inch cubes and top lasagna.
Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place lasagna dish on top, cover and put on the middle rack of the oven and bake until top is bubbling, about 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue to bake for about 15 minutes.

Simple Tomato Sauce:
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
2 dried bay leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional
In a large casserole pot or Dutch over, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add celery and carrots and season with salt and pepper. Sauté until all the vegetables are soft, about 5 to 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and bay leaves and simmer uncovered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. Remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. If sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.

Add 1/2 the tomato sauce into the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth. Continue with remaining tomato sauce.
If not using all the sauce, allow it to cool completely and pour 1 to 2 cup portions into freezer plastic bags. This will freeze up to 6 months.

Printed from FoodNetwork.com on 11/12/2008 © 2008 Scripps Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved