Carbonara - Eric Moe, Guest Chef

In honour of Robbie Burns Day, my guest chef Eric offered to make me one of his favorite meals - Carbonara. I had never had this dish, and now that i was happily on the pork train, i thought what better a time. Apparently there is some controversy about how to make this dish, some puritans dispute the use of cream and the techniques. I had utter faith in my chef's version of the recipe, pure or not! This dish is also refereed to as the "coal miner's spaghetti" or "dinner"- and it was amazing!!!

The preparation and ingredients of the meal were fascinating in themselves, in some ways its sort of a bacon and eggs pasta. (i'm sure the puritans are cringing right now). Eric fried up the panchetta with onions and garlic, and made a mixture of eggs, cream, Parmesan and black pepper that gave the pasta the richness. Once the pasta was cooked and drained, he added it to the pork and onions, tossed it, then added the egg mixture. I understand this is where the controversy comes from - some people the cream is a sin, but Eric knows i like rich food. The egg mixture cooks a little from the heat and coats the pasta. It is served with a heap of Parmesan. Yum!!!!

It was really nice having someone cook me dinner, though i might have irritated my guest chef by shoving my camera in the food constantly, it was a great meal. The pictures aren't great, in part because of the speed of the cooking, my newness with the camera and lighting issues, but i hope it represents what a good meal it was. I thought since the pasta was quite rich i would make a couple lighter sides to balance the meal out. I purchased some buffalo mozzarella and made a Caprese salad along with some brushcetta. Of course we had a wine - i chose one of my VQA favorites - East Dell Black Cab. Its a Pinot Noir Cab blend that offset the richness of the dish.


Above:

Caprese Salad
Carbonara
Chopping up the pork
The ingredients
Bruschetta