Spaghetti Carbonara

Another recipe, Spaghetti Carbonara this time. Honestly, Americans, I don't know why you bother with Mac'nCheese. This is so easy and quick! As opposed to Carbonara, Mac'nCheese is heavy, greasy and bland. OK, I guess that if you do it right it could be good, but I never tasted it.
So, how to proceed?
I baked some bacon strips until crisp, put them on a kitchen towel to get rid of excess fat, cut into small pieces. Then I cooked 300 gr of homemade pasta. When done, drained, put back in the pan an added a cup of the water I had taken before draining (this step is supposed to prevent sticking, it worked), added the bacon too. In a bowl I stirred 2 eggs together with some cream and grated Parmesan. I added this mixture to the spaghetti, off the heat, stirred until set and creamy. Done.
With the right kind of prepping this could be even faster then opening a package and stirring water into a powder. If you use bacon a lot, you could make crisp bacon strips, cut them into small pieces and keep them in the fridge so you have them at hand whenever you need them. Same for the grated cheese, although I prefer to grate the expensive Parmesan the moment I need it.

A quick trip down Memory Lane:

Fast Forward:

Pasta

The other day we decided that we wanted pasta for lunch. We had enough time so I decided to make it from scratch.
The recipe is very simple: for 100 gr of 00-flour 1 egg. I used 500 gr of flour, 4 whole eggs and 2 yolks. The stand mixer did most of the work, but it needed a bit more kneading.

Then, while the dough was resting we made pesto. Not only can you not have fresh pasta without it, but the plant in the garden was getting out of control and needed a trim.

I had an expert helper. First, separate the leaves from the stalkes.

Second, make a paste of garlic and salt, and add the roasted pine nuts.

Mix it all together, add olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese, et voilá!

OK, back to the pasta.
No way Thomas would let me do this on my own.

We had made more then we could eat, so I prepared the left overs for the freezer.

I don't know if this is the correct way to do it, frozen on a tray and the put in a freezer bag, but according to Jamie Oliver you can throw the pasta nests straight from the freezer into boiling water. If it turns out to be a sticky mess I'll let you know (and Jamie too!)
I froze a portion a the pesto too,  in an ice cube tray. I think it's the perfect size if you want to pimp up a sauce or dressing.
No picture of the final dish, we finished it before I could reach for the camera.