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Chicken and Vegetable Carbonara

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Chicken and vegetable carbonara is a healthy twist to the classic recipe. It is creamy and flavorful with a tad more texture and crunch from the nutritious vegetables.

 

Serves 6

Ingredients:

175g penne pasta

2 cups cream

4 bacon rashers, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium sized brown onion, chopped

1/2 lb. chicken breast fillet, sliced into strips

1/2 cup canned mushrooms, sliced

1/3 cup water

1 cup fresh spinach

1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and white ground pepper to taste

 

Cook the pasta  in a pot of salted boiling water according to package instructions or until al dente. Drain and then set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Fry the bacon for 2 minutes or until the edges are browned. Add the olive oil. Sauté the garlic and onions for 2 minutes or until fragrant and the onions are soft.

Place the chicken and mushrooms in the pan. Cook it for another 5 minutes or until the edges of the chicken strips are browned.

Pour in the water and cream. Add the spinach and basil leaves. Let it simmer for 10 minute or until the chicken is tender. Season it with salt and pepper.

Combine the pasta and the sauce. Transfer it to a serving platter and top it with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

 

Photo Courtesy Of:   theimpulsivebuy

Turkey Spam Carbonara

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Carbonara

I am a big fan of pasta and white sauce is at the top of my list. An Italian friend taught me how to cook carbonara the Italian way. He said that it’s the meat and wine that make it really good. In my opinion, it’s the meat that makes a big difference. It doesn’t really matter if you use cheap or expensive wine.

As always, I took the liberty of making some changes. If you are a bacon lover, you can use that as well. It’s the traditional topping used for this dish. I’ve tried others, but only these two match well.

1 can turkey spam, cubed

500 g pasta

2 eggs

1 cup fresh milk

100 g grated fresh parmesan

¼ c red wine

1 clove garlic

3 tbsp salt

1 tbsp pepper

1 L water

1 cup olive oil, divide into 2 parts

2 tbsp cooking oil

1. Boil water in a pot. Add cooking oil and salt. When it boils, add pasta. Cook for about 5-10 minutes or until al dente. Drain. Rinse with cold water and set aside.

2. Beat eggs in a bowl. Fold in milk, cheese, salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. In a pan, put ¼ cup tablespoon of olive oil. Once the oil is heated, fry the turkey spam. Pour in red wine and reduce. Cook for 5 minutes or until the spam is almost crunchy. Set aside.

4. Using another pan, sauté garlic in the remaining olive oil. Use low fire. Mix in pasta. Make sure it is coated in oil. Pour in egg mixture while mixing.

5. Top with turkey spam. Serve warm.

Photo Courtesy: frabatistta

Better than Carbonara Carbonara

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carbonara

Because I’ve always been a baker first, I’m a stick-to-a-recipe kinda gal when it comes to cooking. Thankfully, my husband is the exact opposite: he refuses to even look at a cookbook, and is always concocting the most unbelievably delicious dishes from various ingredient combinations. The Carbonara pictured above (taken with a crappy mobile phone camera) is one of our favorite dishes here at home. It’s based on a recipe I downloaded from the Pioneer Woman, by Pastor Ryan, with a few choice tweaks:

  • We use Fettuccine instead of Linguine, because we always have Fettuccine in the house.
  • We use two cups of stock, and omit the white wine. We’ve used Chicken Stock and Beef Broth, and both were delicious.
  • We add about half a block of an 8 oz. block of Cream Cheese to the egg mixture, mashing it all up.

Did the Cream Cheese throw you? We wanted a creamier Carbonara, and I was all set to add some heavy cream to the recipe, when the husband suggested using Cream Cheese instead. Actually, he recommended Mascarpone- which just goes to show you how much he knows about what’s in our pantry on a daily basis. What we always have is Cream Cheese, so that’s what I used- and it. was. awesome.