The Bratty Bambino Loves Carbonara
17 September 2008 at 10:47 pm 5 comments
Ciao Bloggisti
Do you have the September Blues? I kinda do. After a month of spending time with the family, on holiday and, most importantly, AWAY FROM WORK, it’s always a bit of a downer coming back to real life. And it’s especially hard for us parents. Back-to-school shopping drama, getting the kids used to going to bed before midnight, getting them up and out of the house on time and above all, finding the time to fix them a decent dinner that they’ll actually eat. After a gruelling day at the office and fighting traffic, sometimes I just don’t have the energy to come up with a recipe that will wow my tough crowd. So I fall back on an old standard: Spaghetti alla Carbonara.
It’s the ultimate no-brainer meal – so quick and easy to prepare. And the most important thing is that my bambini are crazy for it. Yes, I know it’s not a low-fat recipe but I found out a way to make it a little lighter without skimping on the taste. You see, most people think you have to add cream to a Carbonara to make it, well, creamy. But that’s not the case. If you add the ingredients in the right order, and especially, at the right time, you can have that wonderfully rich texture without calorie overload. It’s not a light dish by any means, but a little bacon once in a while never hurt anyone.
Spaghetti alla Carbonara Bratty-style
600 gr. spaghetti
150 gr pancetta (bacon), chopped into cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
4 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padana cheese
salt and pepper to taste
(serves 6)
Directions:
Cook spaghetti in boiling salted water. In the meantime combine the eggs, salt and pepper in a bowl. Fry the pancetta in the olive oil until just golden.
When the pasta is al dente, drain and place in a serving bowl. Add the egg mixture immediately and mix well. Add the pancetta and oil. Mix well.
Add the cheese and toss well. Ecco! Creamy Carbonara without the cream!!
Do you have any no-brainer recipes you’d like to share? I sure hope so. I don’t know what to cook for dinner tomorrow!!
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1.
nyc/caribbean ragazza | 18 September 2008 at 9:02 am
Sorry I don’t have any no-brainer recipes off the top of my head. I just wanted to say your bratty carbonara looks delicious.
Grazie! I’m sure you can find some pretty good Carbonara in Rome, too.
2.
My Mélange | 18 September 2008 at 1:48 pm
Love carbonara. And from what I know, traditional carbonara doesn’t have cream- just like yours. I think Cream is more of an American variation.
Here is an easy recipe for dinner: http://tiny.cc/T5bTb
Good Luck 🙂
Great recipe, Robin! And my kids absolutely love tortellini.
3.
Kristen | 18 September 2008 at 10:16 pm
Traditional carbonara definitely doesn’t have cream: just egg, cheese, parsley, pancetta and perhaps some wine. They key is to not scramble the egg…
My no-brainer meal is roast chicken and potatoes. It takes two seconds to shove some salt and half a lemon into a whole chicken and stick it in a 200C oven for an hour and a quarter. Peel and boil some potatoes cut into chunks, drain, then add them to the roasting pan with the chicken for the last 30 minutes. Squeeze the other half lemon over the chicken when it comes out of the oven, sprinkle some more salt and tada!
Your kids sound pretty picky (we had a 12 year old at our house last week who only eats white bread, plain pasta, chicken, butter and ice cream–yikes!), but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love eating this.
KP:)
In a lot of the Italian Carbonara recipes I found, cream was optional. But you don’t really need it if you time everything well. I also forgot to mention that you can also use grated Pecorino. I don’t because the taste is too overpowering for me. I’ve never seen Carbonara with parsley or wine though.
That chicken recipe sounds nummy! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Hey, my kids aren’t that picky. My girl loves squid and the little guy enjoys his cassoeula. Go figure!
4.
anne | 19 September 2008 at 9:57 am
One of our favourites, I never use cream in mine..also make sure you have the best pasta you can get, makes a lot of difference, I think….
Also Roast Chicken is always on our menu..I even cook it for one…when my husband is away…
I love roast chicken but the hubby doesn’t. So I’d have to cook it for one, too!
5. Festivus - Masala style! « Milanese Masala | 21 March 2009 at 11:52 pm
[…] Life ain’t easy these days for moms, or anyone for that matter, so if you’d like to do an Airing of Grievances here’s your chance to lash out. And for all those Supermoms out there, you can regale us with stories of your Feats of Strength. For example, I have eyes in the back of my head, I can tell the exact consistency of my son’s poop even before changing his diaper just from the smell and I can make a mean Carbonara. […]