Food Hangover Feast

Monday night brought me to chef allen's with Wendy to take advantage of our groupon. The food tasted great going down but i was attacked my MSG the next morning. I had to leave work early because i felt so horrible. Thank you food hangover.

In my quest to rid my refrigerator of more food before i leave for Mickeyland this weekend, I used some old bacon and leftover cream to make carbonara the Nigella way:

Ingredients
1 pound spaghetti
2 cups cubed pancetta rind removed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth
4 eggs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup heavy cream
Freshly ground black pepper
Freshly ground nutmeg
Directions
Put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta.

In another large pan that will fit the pasta later, cook the pancetta cubes in the oil until crispy but not crunchy. Pour over the white wine or vermouth and let it bubble away so that, after a few minutes, you have a small amount of salty winey syrup left. Take the pan off the heat.

In a bowl, beat together the eggs, Parmesan, cream, and pepper. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, but since you want it kept al dente start checking it 2 minutes before end of the recommended cooking time.

When the pasta is done, remove approximately 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining. Put the pan with the bacon cubes back on the heat and add the drained pasta, tossing well to coat with the syrupy pancetta. Take the pan off the heat again and add the eggs and cheese mixture, swiftly tossing everything to mix. Thin with pasta water, if needed. Grind over some more pepper and grate over the nutmeg to serve.

It tasted mighty fine to me. I also helped myself to a nice quick cucumber sandwich on my own fresh bread by toasting and then spreading cream cheese over the top and then layering thinly sliced cucumber. I some leftover rutabagas that i had steamed and tossed those in the toaster oven with some of my rosemary oil. Those tasted like slightly sweet fries, but not quite like sweet potato fries. I also killed the last of my roma tomatoes in the toaster oven by roasting them since i took the little bugger out to use anyway.....

I love what roasting does to tomatoes!!!! It sets free this deliciously sweet flavor that hides waiting to come out. Canned tomatoes have so much salt that you never get to taste the sweetness when you use them. I recently discovered it. If you use them in a pasta dish and can't take the excessive sweetness you can just grate some fresh parmesan and the buttery sharpness mellows out the sweetness of the tomatoes. Its incredible what olive oil, salt and pepper and a little bit of heat can do to tomatoes!