🍖🐣🥓🍃🎃Claire's Crazy bakes and Kitchen Hacks Chapter 53: Traditional Carbonara🍖🍃🐣🥓🎃

Before I go onto a very strict Doctor's orders Carbohydrate restricted diet, I am going out winning 😂 If you know me well, you'll know that pasta is my soft spot; or rather my al dente spot - not too hard, not too soft but just the right amount of squishy to feel good!

It actually takes a lot of practice to get that right. I have taught all my children the trick of throwing a noodle or a single strand of spaghetti against the wall to check if it's ready. If it falls off, it needs more time and if it sticks it's time to take the pasta off!

Pasta is like a religion to me, I love it so much. Pasta and steak I suppose. and I treat them similarly when cooking; erring on the side of caution rather than overcooking. I like my steak medium rare - leaning a bit more to the rare side and my pasta must be al dente, which some people refer to as slightly undercooked - but it's not. It's when pasta is at it's most perfect.

I've managed to pass on this knowledge quite successfully to my precious @aimeludick who has been doing so well in the kitchen. I haven't been able to cook for a while as my pain levels have been extremely high, and she has been doing an exemplary job!

Back to my carbonara, did you know that you are actually not supposed to use cream at all? I usually add a teeny bit of milk though, to be honest, just to make it slightly saucier. And when I say a little, I mean a splash. That's it.

For this Carbonara I used:
500g smoked bacon
400g assorted mushrooms
As much basil as I could get my hands on, and a little bit of fresh rosemary too
An entre bulb of fresh garlic
A slash of milk (don't tell the purists)
6 eggs
100g feta (to replace parmesan)
and 500g of spaghetti

I've explained cooking spaghetti quite thoroughly above, but here are the basics:

1. The water must be actively boiling when you put the pasta in. You destroy pasta when you leave it in water for an unnecessary amount of time.
2. Adding a little olive oil and salt to the water helps the flavour and the olive oil helps the pasta from sticking together.
3. stir once every 6 minutes. That means once when you put the pasta in, once about midway, and once when you are about to take the pasta out. DON'T OVER-STIR. You want to make sure it separates but don't make porridge!
4. Have a colander ready in the sink for you to pour the whole pot into to drain all the water.
5. The pasta itself should be the last thing you cook.

Right, now we can look at the sauce, which should be done first, but understanding the importance of cooking pasta correctly is extremely important.

With my pan at a high heat, I threw the herbs, garlic, and bacon in first, shortly followed by the mushrooms. Once these ingredients started looking brown and cooked I added my controversial splash of milk and the feta. Right towards the end of cooking and infact, after the carbonara sauce had been added to the pasta in a big pot, I added the eggs. I turned the heat back up to ensure the eggs were cooked but was wary that every minute more endangered the texture of my pasta.

When serving, I added some fresh basil to each portion. That burst of freshness and slightly peppery flavor makes such a difference to the dish! Garnish is not just a pretty face!

And as they say in Italy: Buon Appetito!