Pasta for breakfast is one of my favourite weekend treats. Its fast, fairly simple, and allows me to ‘carb up’ for whatever the rest of the weekend holds. Its also great because you check to see what you have hanging out in your fridge and then pick a style of sauce (e.g. tomato, pesto, cream, etc) that you think would compliment those ingredients.
Pasta carbonara is a dish I prepare when I’m feeling like I deserve something special. In most recipes bacon is the starring meat… but the real distinguishing feature is the egg, cream and cheese mixture that is added to the pasta at the very end to make the sauce.
This particular recipe I made for dinner but I’d be happy to eat it any time of the day. I’ve substituted whole milk for cream, which most recipes usually call for, but I find that the result is still creamy enough and definitely delicious. And I don’t feel too guilty eating it haha.
Ingredients
For the Pasta
Approximately 100 grams of dried pasta
2 litres of salted water
For the Sauce
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup whole milk
2 tbsp parmigiano or romano cheese
Cracked black pepper
For the Frying Pan
Use whatever you have! Below is what I added but the egg / cream / cheese mixture is what makes this dish
2 tbsp olive oil
50 grams of sliced prociutto
1 quarter red bell pepper, finely diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 green onions, finely sliced
Directions
Set the water to boil the pasta. By the time the pasta is cooked it will be ready to add to your frying pan and minutes away from being ready to eat.
Heat up your frying pan to medium. As the pan warms, mix up the carbonara sauce. Separate the yolk from the egg white and add to a small bowl.
Add the cheese, milk (or cream if you like) and cracked pepper. Mix and set aside.
Once the pan is hot add the olive oil, then the sliced prosciutto and let cook, stirring occasionally. It’s nice to allow the cured pork to crisp up so spread it out and allow it to brown.
Once the prociutto is starting to crisp, move it to one side of the pan and then add the diced red peppers.
I find this helps keep it crisp instead of having the moisture from the vegetables start to steam it. Let the peppers cook for a minute or two until they’ve just begun to soften, then add the green onion and garlic.
Around this time your pasta should be done. Pour of the majority of the hot water, leaving just a few tablespoons in the pot with the pasta. Do not rinse the pasta – the goal here is too add the starchy water with the pasta directly to the pan from the pot it was cooked in. Plus there’s no colander to clean!
Turn off the element that the pan is on, mix the cooking vegetables with the crispy prociutto, and then dump in the pasta. Stir until it is mixed reasonably well and then add the carbonara sauce mix directly to the pan. The heat of the pasta and pan will cook the egg mixture and result in wonderful creamy coating for the noodles.
Pour into a bowl, top with cheese and black pepper, and then enjoy the good life.
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