Classic Carbonara Pasta with Bacon

From Daryl / Avery: 

Hi, all. I'm at the Malice Domestic Conference in Bethesda, MD for the next few days, so I did some cooking early so I could share recipes with you. Hope you don't mind. I'll put up pictures from the conference next week. It's like old home week. Lots of my author buddies are here, including many from Mystery Lovers Kitchen.

Now, for this week's post.

Salt & Pepper, culinary books & darling kitchen gifts

Because my new protagonist, Jenna, isn't much of a cook, I'm trying to "unlearn" my own cooking style and go strictly by the book. No guessing. No estimating. Read those instructions and cook!

And guess what? The recipes usually work! How about that?

I found a super simple recipe in a book that my cookbook maven Christine from SALT AND PEPPER BOOKS, in Occoquan, Virginia introduced me to for SIMPLE, EASY RECIPES.  {PS  I'm going to be at Salt and Pepper Books tomorrow along with Krista, Peg, Lucy/Roberta, Mary Jane (Victoria Albert), and Jennifer Stanley. Stop in if you can!}

Anyway, the book...

It's called: How to Cook Everything, the basics: All You Need to Make Great Food by Mark Bittman. Don't you love how long cookbook titles can be? [Not!] But as Jenna's aunt says, a title like How To Cook doesn't quite narrow it down, does it?

Inside this fabulously dense cookbook, I found a super simple recipe for pasta, eggs, and cheese.  Take it one step further and add bacon, and you have pasta carbonara.

Note: This cookbook is so good for the beginner, I bought a copy of it for my daughter-in-law who was afraid to boil water until she received this gift. She's not any longer. Yay! 

Pasta with Eggs and Cheese and Bacon

A Classic Carbonara

Recipe borrowed from 

How to Cook Everything, the basics: All You Need to Make Great Food 

by Mark Bittman

(I tweaked this recipe and made it gluten-free and it was fabulous!)

20-30 minutes to prepare

Makes 4 servings:

Ingredients:

Salt

3 eggs

½ cup fresh grated Romano or Parmesan cheese (I used San Joaquin Gold from Fiscalini Farmstead) A cow’s milk cheese with wonderful nutty flavor and crunchy crystals

1 pound linguine or spaghetti

2-4 slices of bacon, cooked crisply and crumbled

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Cook the bacon crisply, crumble, and set aside.

Grate the cheese and set aside.

Bring a stockpot of water to a boil and add salt, about a teaspoon.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200 degrees and put in an ovenproof bowl for about 5 minutes. When you remove, be sure you are wearing a mitt. 

Crack the eggs into he bowl and stir briskly with a fork or whisk. Add the cheese and stir a little more.

When the water boils, cook the pasta until it is tender but not mushy, about 3-5 minutes (read the product label – gluten-free pasta takes longer!).  When it’s done, scoop out some of the cooking water, about a cup, and reserve. Then drain the pasta.

Immediately toss the pasta with the eggs and cheese. If it’s too dry (not likely), add a little of the pasta cooking water to the mix. [I didn’t have to.]

Add the crumpled bacon, a little more salt, and cracked pepper.

Serve immediately (maybe with a light green salad). Enjoy!!

SAVOR THE MYSTERY!

* * * * * * *

Daryl Wood Gerber also writes as Avery Aames, 

author of the Agatha Award-winning,

nationally bestselling CHEESE SHOP MYSTERY SERIES 

The 1st in A Cookbook Nook Mystery series is coming July 2013!!

FINAL SENTENCE.

You can pre-order the book HERE.

The 4th in A Cheese Shop Mystery series is out! 

TO BRIE OR NOT TO BRIE
You can order the book HERE. 

You can learn more about me, Daryl by clicking this LINK. "Like" my page on Facebook and "follow" me on Twitter. And if you haven't done so, sign up for the mailing list

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