Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Look at these pretty eggs from our hens!

Nothin' like fresh eggs for making a delicious spaghetti (ok, we used linguini) alla carbonara. Cutting the Cooks Illustrated recipe in half was hard given the need for 3 eggs for a full recipe, but with only two mouths to feed, it was necessary to improvise. 

It is a time sensitive dish because the egg & cheese sauce needs to be applied to the pasta very quickly after being drained and then it should also be eaten right away.  So, the pressure was on, but man did it work out.  Having awesome thick cut Hempler's bacon (best bacon I've ever had) gave a nice crunch and saltiness to the pasta and mixing pecorino romano with the parmesan makes the egg sauce really smooth.

I learned a nice pan frying/steaming method for the brussel sprouts that Anderw and I have been using regularly and they turned our perfectly this night. Brussel sprouts go nicely with the bacon flavor from the pasta and cut the richness of the main dish wonderfully.

Ham & Egg Sammy

Nothing tastier in the morning than an egg sammy on an english muffin!  The challenge of eggs for this week is quite an easy one for us.  We eat plenty of eggs already so this week there will be a few posts. This morning I heated up some left over ham, scrambled an egg into a pseudo-circle, and added the pièce de résistance Secret Aardvark Habanero Sauce.  

Secret Aardvark Habanero Sauce is from the gods and Andrew and I have been nomming through bottle after bottle ever since our dear friends M & B introduced us to the stuff.  Made in Portland, OR, it is hard to find up here but thanks to some very generous Xmas gifts, our cupboards have enough stocked to keep us in heaven for at least a few weeks. Pizza, eggs, sandwiches, steamed veggies, ice cream, donuts, you name it - I want Aardvark on it. 

I burned the english muffin a bit but was excited to eat it anyway.  Then, I went and left it on the kitchen counter as I ran out the door to work. Sooooo sad. Well, Andrew woke up to a tasty surprise...

We are planning spaghetti alla carbonara for dinner tomorrow night, so stay tuned!