light carbonara

Just joking, it's Carbonara - it's probably never going to be light! I did try to lighten this classic up just a bit this time around though. Carbonara is one of those convenient dishes that I always like to whip up when in a pinch. It's certainly filling and very quick to make. The sauce is a mix of egg yolks, cream and Parmesan. You add it to the pasta right before serving along with bacon and peas. You should be able to get everything ready in the eight minutes it takes to cook pasta. Can't go wrong there!

Unfortunately I didn't have any cream this time around, so I decided to sub in yogurt. This worked out better than expected. The yogurt gave the Carbonara a tart flavor, almost as if I'd added a little lemon juice. Definitely noticeably lighter than the original, but certainly not lacking any flavor. I also didn't have any peas, but I did add in some basil. Of course, you can really mix in just about anything you want to this dish. Asparagus, fresh cherry tomatoes, green beans... anything along those lines would work well I think. Just don't forget the bacon - that would obviously be a terrible shame!

Tom's Light(er) Pasta Carbonara (serves 2)
10oz your favorite pasta
4-6 strips thick bacon, cut into small squares
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup grated parmesan
Salt + Pepper
4 basil leaves, chopped

Directions
Cook your pasta in salty water according to the directions on the box
Cook your bacon to your liking
Mix the egg yolks, yogurt, parm, salt, pepper, and basil in a bowl
Strain the pasta when it is cooked through (save a bit of the pasta water to thin out the sauce if necessary)
Mix everything together, but don't cook the sauce, just let the residual heat do the work

Enjoy!

bacon

This might be hard for some of you to come to grips with, but bacon jumped the shark roughly three years ago. As proof, I offer you the over-hyped bacon festivals, bacon ice cream sundaes (at Denny's?!?!), terrible bacon television specials (just picture Mark Summers saying "Set your skillet to sizzle because today we're frying up a bacon bonanza" ughhh), and bubbly brown bacon sodas... You even find bacon dehydrated and dangling like a trapeze artist at Alinea, with all three of its Michelin stars. Want more??? Bacon cups, bacon toothpaste, bakon (sic) vodka, and of course a burger made out of ground bacon for a double whammy of food that's recently jumped the shark. I rest my case.

Now don't get me wrong. I have always liked bacon (and burgers) and continue to do so. But let's be clear, there are plenty of other foods that are far superior to bacon. Let me ask you one question as an example, and we'll even keep it in the world of cured meats for a relatively fair comparison. Would you rather go to a bacon festival or Jamón Ibérico festival? I really hope you said bacon, because I'd rather not have to share any Jamón with you.

Enough with that rant and onto another. Why would anyone insist on eating bacon that's so crispy that any sane person would describe it as burnt???  It's murder to take a perfectly tender piece of cured and/or smoked pork belly, slice is so thinly you can see through it, render every ounce of the fat out of it, and then continue to cook it until what's left of the it is burnt beyond recognition. It's madness I tell you! Yet what's more infuriating, is the fact that if you want bacon in anything other than thin slices, you're pretty much out of luck at most American supermarkets. And so this is what brings me to my home cured bacon. I wanted lardons, not slices. Small strips of bacon that maintain their meatiness when cooked, while simultaneously allowing for a crispy exterior. Doesn't sound so bad does it?? So I followed Ruhlman's basic recipe which involves coating a slab of pork belly with 1/4 cup of salt cure (see below) and refrigerating it for seven days. On the seventh day, you get to create bacon. Simply cook it for two hours in a 200F oven. That's it - couldn't be any easier!! Now I have two pounds of lardons stored in my freezer, ready for salads, soups, stews, pasta dishes, breakfast, and much, much more (though probably not sodas). 

Now some of you might insist that real bacon should be smoked. Well you are right - sort of.  I will point out that in France bacon and lardons are often just cured and not smoked, though that's probably not a convincing argument. And besides, it's not like smoking meat is a bad thing. In fact, at some point I will most likely invest in a small oven smoker and bacon will probably be the first thing I use it for. So there you go. Another day, another rant. Here's to the hope that some of you will try to make bacon at home now!

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Simple Bacon Cure

Ingredients

1 part pink salt
4 parts granulated sugar
9 parts kosher salt