JAMIES PASTA CARBONARA

Arabella and I had a brilliant time today at the Harry Potter Studio Tour and so we just had to watch a Harry Potter movie this evening. I wanted to cook something quite easy and quick and surprise surprise Arabella suggested pasta carbonara tonight - her favourite. I have cooked this many times before but decided to try a new recipe tonight and this Jamie Oliver one popped up on the Internet. I did alter it a little as Jamie suggests using a piece of pancetta that you can cut yourself - we had lardons in the fridge so I used those.

Ingredients for 2 people:

3 large free range egg yolks
150g lardons or pancetta
40g Parmesan, grated
Salt and pepper
1 clove of garlic, crushed
200g pasta, we used penne but this is most classically made with spaghetti
Extra virgin olive oil

In a bowl mix together the egg yolks, Parmesan and black pepper and then set aside.

Fry the garlic and lardons / pancetta together in a tiny but of olive oil and boil the pasta according to the packets instructions. You want the pasta to be al dente and this took about 8 minutes for me.

When the pasta is ready, drain but keep aside some of the cooking water - around two cups worth.

Mix the pasta in with the lardons and garlic.

Add some cooking water and make sure you give it a really good stir. Then remove from the heat.

Finally mix in the yolk and cheese mix and some more cooking water if necessary - I definitely needed some to loosen the sauce up a bit.

Serve with a grating of Parmesan and a twist of black pepper.

I have to say I really enjoyed this - totally different to Pascals Pasta Carbonara but I thought just as good as it is obviously less creamy. Arabella preferred Pascals recipe however she still managed to wipe her plate clean as did I. I also liked the way the egg was cooked more as I sometimes do worry about the possible side effects of raw egg…..not that it has ever actually stopped me eating it!

Now time to collapse on the sofa and finish Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone :-)

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BLUE CHEESE CARBONARA

As I have mentioned in my blog previously, my daughter Arabellas favourite dish is carbonara - she would eat it every week if she could. I really like it but its not my favourite. However I saw this recipe of carbonara with blue cheese in the Sunday Times magazine and I thought it had my name all over it!! It is a Jamie Oliver recipe and he does suggest adding pears to it which I left out as I hate sweet and savoury but if you like that kind of thing just add a couple of thinly sliced pears to the frying pan with the garlic and rosemary.

Here is the recipe for 3 people and it took about 15 minutes.

Ingredients for 3 people:

3 large free-range egg yolks
2 tbsp creme fraiche
100g Stilton
350g dried spaghetti (or similar pasta)
A small knob of butter
Olive oil
8 rashes of smoked streaky bacon, sliced into 5mm pieces (or thereabouts)
A few sprigs of rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
Juice of half a lemon 
Rocket leaves to serve

Crack the egg yolks into a bowl, add the creme fraiche, season and whisk with a fork.

Crumble in the Stilton as finely as you can and stir in (mine was pretty lumpy but it melted when you add it to the pasta)!

Cook the pasta according to the packets instructions in a pan of salted boiling water - mine took 8 minutes.

At the same time in a frying pan, melt the butter with a drizzle of olive oil over a medium heat.

Add the bacon and fry until golden, stirring all the time.

Then add the rosemary and garlic and fry for another couple of minutes.

Drain the pasta but reserve a couple of cups of cooking water for later.

Add the egg, creme fraiche and cheese mixture as well as the bacon, garlic and rosemary to the pasta.

Add a squeeze of lemon and some of the cooking water (add a splash at a time) and mix all together as quickly as possible.

Serve immediately with a few rocket leaves scattered on top.

This was absolutely amazing!! Pascal rated it as his favourite ever pasta dish and it could be mine too - it worked wonderfully and we also used gluten free pasta as then we dont feel so stuffed afterwards. Arabella prefers Pascals Pasta Carbonara as she isnt a huge fan of blue cheese but she still ate the lot. The best thing about this dish is even though it was cheesy, it still tasted incredibly light. I would highly recommend it!

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