Spaghetti Carbonara (II)

This is one of those recipes I don't make very often anymore because of the evil-carb nature of all pasta, but it was requested for a birthday dinner recently, and I thought it would be a good addition to this list.  I found this on allrecipes.com, and I'll post it here with the modifications I normally make noted as such.  Hats off to the original poster, Sabrinatee!

This isn't a difficult dish, but once you have the onions cooked, it goes very quickly, so the mise en place process of getting everything prepared and measured beforehand is your friend. So I chop the onion and beat the eggs, and if I'm lucky enough to have a block of Parmesan, I grate it first. Then I cook the bacon, and about halfway through that process, I put the water on to boil. When the bacon is all done and crumbled, you can move very quickly through the rest of the process.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. spaghetti (I usually only use 1/2 lb.)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

8 slices to 1 lb. bacon, diced (I usually just cook the bacon then chop it up)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine (optional)

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

PREPARATION:

Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, then drain and toss with 1 T olive oil, and set aside.

While waiting for the water to boil, fry the bacon to just crisp and then drain on paper towels. Empty out the rendered grease, reserving some for cooking the onions and garlic (the original recipe says 2 Tablespoons, but I generally use 4 or 5). I just fry the bacon without chopping it up first, and after it's all cooked I give it a rough chop to make it all bite-sized.

Add the remaining olive oil and the reserved bacon grease to the same skillet, and cook the onions over medium to medium-high heat until translucent. (I use an electric food chopper to make the onion bits pretty small, but they can be any size you choose.)  Add the minced garlic (I usually do 3-4 cloves of garlic because we like the flavor) and cook for 1 minute. If you are using the white wine, add it and cook one more minute.

Return the bacon to the pan, and add the cooked and drained spaghetti. Toss well to coat with the oils and to mix the bacon and onion-garlic mixture into the pasta. Add more olive oil and/or bacon grease if the pasta seems too dry or is sticking together.

Working quickly, pour in the beaten eggs and mix, tossing thoroughly, until the eggs are cooked. Quickly add 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and toss again. Season with salt and pepper, but remember that Parmesan and bacon are very salty in themselves.

Serve immediately with fresh chopped parsley and extra Parmesan.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

A long time ago, when Hans was in preschool, our class put together a cookbook of favorite recipes, just sharing among the 15 families represented in the class. This one came from Melissa Lozier, who coincidentally used to be on staff at CURE (pre-CityCURE, pre-City Gospel Mission). She left CURE to get married, and it was her leaving that precipitated Gary going on staff there.

This recipe has become one of those things that it just isn't Christmas without, and Grace has taken it over as her specialty. I've never tried them in a regular muffin pan, and have never had to use muffin papers in the cups, so I don't know the variables involved. I've also included a table, of sorts, for increases in all amounts for doubling and tripling the recipe.

Mini Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

makes 3.5 to 4 dozen mini muffins

o      1 2/3 cups flour (if using self-rising flour, you may omit the salt and baking powder, but do not omit the baking soda)

o      1 cup sugar

o      1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice (OR 1.5 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves)

o      1 teaspoon baking soda

o      1/4 teaspoon baking powder

o      1/4 teaspoon salt

o      2 large eggs

o      1/4 cup melted margarine or butter (4 Tablespoons)

o      1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

o      1 cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Sift or stir dry ingredients together.

3. In a large bowl, blend eggs, melted butter or margarine, and pumpkin together until smooth.

4. Add dry ingredients and mix until everything’s blended. Don’t over-mix.

5. Stir in chocolate chips.

6. Spray mini muffin pan with Pam, and fill each cup about 2/3 full. (We have found that the medium cookie scoop is perfect, which is about 1 Tablespoon.)

7. Bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes each. Cool on wire racks or tea towels.

They freeze well, if you ever have any left over. This has never happened to me.

Some notes about canned pumpkin: a) There is no appreciable taste difference between homemade pumpkin puree and canned pumpkin. There is a BIG difference in the amount of work involved. It's completely up to you how long you want to slave over this part.  b) You can’t buy a 1-cup can of pumpkin. I think they come in 14 or 15 ounce cans, in the smallest size. If you double the recipe, you can use the whole can without having leftover pumpkin or throwing any away. The less-than-full amount still makes perfectly lovely muffins.

Doubled and Tripled:

3 1/3    or            5 cups flour

2          or            3 cups sugar

2 T       or            3 T pumpkin pie spice (or 3 OR 4 1/2 t cinnamon, 1 1/2 OR 2 1/4 t ginger, 1 OR 1 1/2 t cloves)

2          or            3 t baking soda

1/2       or            3/4 t baking powder

1/2       or            3/4 t salt

4          or            6 large eggs

1/2       or            3/4 cup melted margarine

2          or            3 cups pumpkin

2          or            3 cups chocolate chips

Moroccan Tagine

I found this recipe at allrecipes.com  before they went all "mobile-app" and were still actually useful.  I had a butternut squash for some reason, which at that point was not something I would have bought on purpose (I think someone gave it to me). So I was on allrecipes.com looking for things with butternut squash in them, and most of them sounded as revolting as I thought squash was at the time, but then I happened on this one, and I liked everything else in it, preparation didn't seem too onerous (silly me!), so I tried it. Everyone else liked it pretty well, and it helped that you serve it over couscous (which, as our friends Aaron and Marcus tell us, is a food so nice they named it twice), and it's pretty much yum.  This recipe serves 6, and I have not tried freezing it, but it would probably do okay.  And the ingredients are verbatim off the allrecipes site, but this is a recipe you can play with proportions a little--maybe your squash isn't small, or you want to feed 8 people and 3 chicken breasts feels a bit skimpy. Be advised it's pretty mild, so you'll probably want to increase the seasonings if you increase one of the main ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil (or more) for frying
• 2 boneless-skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces (this is the onerous part that I hinted at above: peeling the squash and cutting it up)
• 1 (15-ish ounce) can of garbanzo beans (a.k.a. chick peas), drained and rinsed
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped (I chop up a handful of baby carrots)
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can of diced tomatoes (do not drain them, throw the juice in with the fruit at the right time)
• 1 (14 ounce) can of vegetable broth (or chicken, if you want)
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon salt
• dash or two of cayenne pepper 

Method:
1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet, and cook the chicken and onions until browned, about 15 minutes, adding the garlic a minute or two before the end so you don't scorch it.  (You can cheat a little on the time, cooking it just until the chicken isn't pink anymore, and the onions are translucent. It doesn't hurt the flavor, and if you're rushed for time this is the corner to cut.)

2. Mix everything else in with the chicken mixture, including the seasonings.  Bring it to a boil, and then reduce it to a high simmer and cook 20-30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Serve with couscous.


NOTES:  You can easily make this vegan by leaving out the chicken and making sure you use vegetable broth. Adding tofu is unnecessary (and yucky) (sorry, I'm not a fan).

The hardest part of this recipe is peeling the squash. There is no easy way to do it. Be careful, whether you pare the rind off with a knife or use a potato peeler. The skin is very hard, and the vegetable is very firm. Allow yourself enough time to do this.  I have read that microwaving the squash briefly or blanching it makes it easier to peel, but I haven't tried this yet. Maybe next time.

The prep can be done ahead, but be aware that this squash kind of sweats its juice when cut. No big deal, don't freak out. It isn't gone bad or anything like that.