Friday, 8/6/2010

More company! This afternoon my mom's best friend Nancy, from Portland, Oregon, came up to visit us. The last time I saw her was at my baby shower, almost two years ago. She will be staying with us until dinner tomorrow night. We spent the afternoon playing with Katie and talking and talking and talking and looking at photos. Eventually it was time to make dinner. I decided to make Spaghetti Carbonara and a caesar salad for dinner.

This carbonara recipe came off of the Dreamfields Pasta spaghetti box. The texture of the dish was great tonight. Ben was in charge of mixing all the final ingredients and kept the eggs from cooking completely. Unfortunately, we both thought that something was missing. I think the bacon I used was of such good quality, that it wasn't salty enough. Also, the recipe calls for Parmesan and Romano cheeses. Tonight I only used Parmesan. Maybe it needed the bite of the Romano. It was good, but left something to be desired.

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA

Serves 6
By Chef Antonio Cecconi

Ingredients:
1 box Dreamfields Spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic minced
8 ounces sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
3 eggs
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. In a 2-quart Dutch oven or sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Cook garlic and bacon for 5 minutes or until bacon is crisp; drain off fat.
3. Mix together eggs, Parmesan and Romano cheeses, parsley and pepper; set aside.
4. Drain spaghetti; immediately return to saucepan over low heat. Add egg mixture; quickly toss with spaghetti. Add bacon mixture; toss. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper if desired.

After dinner, Katie went to bed and Nancy and I continued to talk for several hours. Ben took a run and then we all enjoyed some wine and ice cream:)