Spaghetti Carbonara

We’re winding down our time here in Venezuela and need to clear out our freezer.  After a month drought with only the prepackaged inferior more expensive bacon available, good bacon returned to the deli of our favorite grocery store.  I saw some in at the store and picked up enough to last us for the remaining weeks.  Then a little later Reada went to the store and stocked up as well; so we have about 2lbs of bacon to get rid of before we leave in under 3 weeks.

Spaghetti Carbonara was always my favorite lunch special at a little Italian restaurant.  Although they used pancetta instead of bacon, they also added artichoke hearts, and on Wednesdays it came with shrimp mixed in the tasty concoction.  Now because I could get dish at Napoli’s for under $5.00 with a salad and a drink I never thought about making it myself.

A few months ago, I stumbled across a recipe for a Spaghetti Carbonara on delish.com thanks to a link from msn.com.  After a little research and experimentation I worked out a recipe that would work here. They also had mushrooms at the store, so I decided to throw them in the mixture as well.  Feel free to leave them out if you’re not a fan of the fungus!

Spaghetti Carbonara with Mushrooms

1 package spaghetti noodles

8 slices of bacon (cut into ½ inch pieces)

4 cloves of garlic (minced)

1 small onion chopped

½ lb mushrooms (sliced) – baby bellas or button

3 eggs (at room temperature)

¾ cup grated parmesan cheese (at room temperature)

¼ cup heavy cream (at room temperature)

¼ cup milk (at room temperature)

Black pepper and salt to taste

Process:

In a heavy skillet; sauté bacon until it is about ½ way cooked (2 minutes)

Add onions and sauté until they begin to become translucent.

Add mushrooms and sauté until most of the liquid is cooked out of them

Add garlic and sauté for an additional minute

Set to the side

                             

In mixing bowl combine eggs, cheese, cream, and milk blend thoroughly and set to the side.

Cook your spaghetti following the instructions on the packet.

When the spaghetti is cooked, slowly whisk in a couple of pieces into the egg and cheese mixture.  (This raises the temperature and cooks the eggs and keeps them from scrambling.)  

Once about ½ of the pasta has been added, add the bacon and mushroom mixture then blend it all together in the original pot used to cook the pasta. 

Serve immediately.

Tonight I paired the pasta with parmesan garlic bread and the pan seared chicken breast that I made with the mushroom Alfredo on May 30^th.

Enjoy!