As I continue along my cooking and baking journey, I am always trying to grow. And as with most things in life, as I continue to learn, things don't always turn out as you expected to do. Let's talk in "recipes"..... so there was this one "recipe" that I really wanted to turn out one way, but it did not turn out that way, and I had to deal with the fallout of it not turning out the way that I had expected. I had planned to be on a journey with this recipe for a long time, and now I am on a journey with a different recipe. This different recipe is scary and unpredictable and nothing at all what I had planned. So then I keep trying new recipes and other new recipes and as it turns out many of these recipes I try turn into other recipes in disguise.
As I continue on this path of "cooking", I am discovering that I am not at all following the path I sought after. I am not following the path that I had planned on and I'm not following the path that I had wanted to grow with. On the other hand I am on a completely new path, and I am growing with a new set of "skills" as I continue. I did not imagine growing with these skills, and I am unsure of my abilities. But I will be damned if I do not learn to enjoy this new path. I am so grateful for this new set of skills that I have come upon and I am growing in a way I never imagined. Who knows what is yet to come? All I know is that along the way I'll keep developing new "skills" and keep growing in a way that I never imagined.
Sometimes you don't choose the path less traveled. Sometimes, or maybe most of the time, where you end up isn't a choice. Maybe the only thing you do choose is how you deal with it. I suppose our outlook has more to do with what is inside us then what is beyond us. Now where is my bacon? This is what we're making.....
Buckle up. This is real life.
Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients
For one hungry person.... double, triple or quadruple as needed
3 strips of thick cut bacon
1 red bell pepper
2 Cups of your favorite pasta
1 Tablespoon of minced garlic (fresh or pre-cut)
1 Tablespoon of Pesto
1/4 Tablespoon of Red Pepper Flakes
2 eggs, whisked in a separate bowl
In a large pot, fill at least half way with water, cover and put on a high heat. You want to begin with this because it will take the longest.
Next, take the red pepper and place it directly on top of the burner on a low heat.
Keep rotating the red pepper every couple of minutes or so. The goal is to blacken, burn, the outside of the pepper. Not only will this give you a fantastic flavor, but it will also help to remove the skin. Once the entire pepper is blackened, use tongs, place pepper into a ziploc bag and seal. Allowing the pepper to steam inside the bag will make it easier to remove the blackened skin. Leave in bag for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes use a paper towel or dish towel and gently rub the pepper. The skin should easily peel away. You don't have to remove every piece of blackened skin, in fact, I prefer to leave a bit on for the color.
After the skin is removed, cut the top off the pepper and remove the seeds. I use about half of the pepper for this dish, but you can use what you would like. Cut the pepper in half. Dice one of the halves into 1 inch by 1 inch squares. The other half of the pepper you can use in sandwiches or in scrambled eggs.
At this point, if not earlier, the water should be boiled. Salt the water, no oil - it'll just sit on top of the water and not do anything, and add the two cups of dry pasta. I personally found a pasta at the Christmas Tree Shop called Calamarata, which is pasta in the shape of calamari.... pretty awesome. Cook the pasta a little under al dente, so that it has a little bit more of a bite than traditionally cooked al dente. You are doing this because it will be cooked twice.
Heat up a large non-stick skillet. Slice the bacon into 1/2 inch pieces, throw straight into the pan and lower the heat to a medium flame. I find using some sort of serrated knife helps to cut the bacon easier.
The goal is to render all of the fat out of the bacon. Once the bacon is nice and crispy, about 10 minutes, remove all the bits of bacon and keep the bacon grease in the pan. The pasta should also be cooked by now. Strain the pasta but reserve about a cup of the pasta water, you'll be using it.
In the non-stick skillet with the reserved bacon grease, maintain the medium heat and add the garlic, chili flakes and pesto.
After two minutes, don't let the garlic burn, add the pasta, reserved water and let the water heat through until it is steaming.
Now here is the tricky part. Take the pan off of the burner, keep the heat on, move the pan to a different burner and add the raw, whisked eggs. Immediately stir the mixture and do not let the eggs scramble. Keep stirring, stirring, stirring. The goal is to create a sauce out of the eggs. By constantly mixing the eggs, they will not scramble and they will heat through. If you see that the mixture has lost its heat, put it back on the heat for 30 seconds and then remove again. I find a good balance is 2 minutes off the heat, 30 seconds on, 2 minutes off the heat, 30 seconds on, etc. As long as you keep stirring the eggs will not scramble. Do this for about 5 minutes. Once the eggs are heated through, pour contents directly onto whatever plate you like. I sprinkle a little salt on top, I don't prefer pepper with this dish, and eat your heart out. Serve with some nice ciabatta bread and butter and then you'll be able to sop up all that delicious sauce.
Stay hungry my friends.
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