So despite the fact that losing weight is the lamest and most unoriginal New Year's resolution everrrr, I'm doing my best. (It works out well--I'm pretty lame myself.) So in an effort to lose weight, I've been doing my best to eat breakfast everyday. Today I had what I consider to be a pretty well balanced breakfast: bacon, egg, and starch. Traditional components, yes, though execution was not exactly your classic Grand Slam. Carbonara, my friends.
Every attempt I've made at this dish has been pretty meh. The previous (two I believe?) recipes I've used have included cream and have been waaay too soupy. The recipe I based today's breakfast on didn't include any, and the reviews looked promising. So to begin.
As I didn't have any cured pig's jowl lying around, I stuck to a couple strips of bacon. I must say, I did a fabulous job browning the bacon. Normally it gets too done too quick, but I kept the heat on medium lowish this time and it browned beautifully. I added the onions to the bacon fat and let them sweat over low ehat while my four ounces of linguine (my preferred shape of pasta) was on the back burner. A couple minutes before the pasta finished, I added a good glug of the two dollar Chardonnay my dad's so partial to to the bacon and onion pan. Despite the price tag, no detrimental effect as far as I could tell. (The whole "don't cook with it unless you'd drink it" rule doesn't really apply in this house. If its good enough to drink, drink it.) Bacon and starch taken care of, we move onto the egg. As I was cooking for myself, the base of my sauce was a single egg rather than the three specified. I stirred in enough Microplaned Parmigiano (no Romano) until the consistency looked liked I thought it should (kinda lemon-curd-before-you-cook-it looking). You know, because I'm a carbonara expert. Anyway, I dumped the drained pasta into the bacon-onion-wine juices, swishy swished it around in the pan, and dumped it all into the egg/cheese mixture and broke out the tongs to combine it as evenly as possibly while the pasta was still hot. And as it is coal miner's pasta, I grabbed the pepper grinder and worked my wrist harder than my 16 year old brother. (Ewwww I'm gross. Get used to it.)
Verdict? Delicious. My only adjustments would be to use a touch less cheese and perhaps save a bit of pasta water to thin it out--it was a little thick and cheesey. I think if I had used a touch less Parm it wouldn't have been quite so thick, and the other flavors would have been a bit more balanced. So a tasty breakfast without much effort, using stuff I have lying around the fridge and pantry. And the best part? No cream, so its reduced fat carbonara! Right...
Here's to the New Year.
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