I love the foodie of all foodies, Natasha at aptly named, Five Star Foodie. She has teamed up with Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks, another outrageous foodie and created a new cooking club. The classics will get a five star makeover. The first challenge is as Amerciana classic as you can get. Bacon and Eggs.
I could have gotten out some liquid nitrogen and made bacon ice cream, but, who would eat that? While I look forward to others who do know how to do that fancy molecular gastronomy stuff, I’ll sit that one out. But I do know what kind of food makes the heart melt, and it starts with pasta.
This is the one pasta dish that guarantees a very long marriage, because although this was made once as a quickie dinner for my husband in our first year of marriage, he went crazy for it and it has become our “go to” dish in a pinch.
This is not spaghetti carbonara, in which raw eggs are made become the sauce. In this dish, which was a childhood favorite, my grandmother continued to cook the pasta with eggs that had been seasoned with the parmigiano reggiano and tossed until the eggs scrambled. She didn’t used spaghetti, but used a tiny pastina because she called this a children’s dish. I’ve given this its own makeover by growing it up a bit, using toasted bread crumbs.
Please visit Natasha or Lazaro on Friday, February 25 to see what everyone else does with this.
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 8 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano, divided
- 5 tablespoons. extra virgin olive oil plus some for table
- 1/2 cup toasted homemade breadcrumbs
- Handful flat Italian parsley, chopped fine
- 6 slices bacon or 3 slices prosciutto, fried crisply, and crumbled
- Sea or kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper
- Cook bacon, draining all grease, until crispy.
- Use stale Italian bread or French baguette that has sat out at least
- overnight. Use large side of grater, add 1 T olive oil, 1 T parsley. Toast until slightly browned. Set aside.
- Cook pasta al dente in large pot in salted water. Drain. Put 2 T olive oil into pan. Add 2 tablespoons grated cheese to eggs. Add black pepper.
- Add eggs to pasta. Stir continually with wooden spoon until eggs are cooked. Eggs should not be in big pieces.Toss with remaining olive oil, parsley, breadcrumbs, bacon and cheese, reserving some of each to garnish on top. Serve immediately.
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Oh, I want this now! Looks terrific up close. This could even be a good side dish to a piece of grilled chicken or a bowl of soup. I’m saving this now to try later this week. Need something quick when I have to take my girls around to all their activities 4 nights a week!
Erika
Cuisinart 7 cup food processor