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Creamy Pasta Carbonara




Source of Recipe


Sherri Fisher


List of Ingredients




1 ½ pounds spaghetti, uncooked (or pasta of your choice-I'm going to try Bowtie pasta next time)
½ lb bacon, chopped prior to cooking
4 cloves garlic, pressed (I actually used about 6 cloves)
1 c chicken broth
½ - ¾ c half and half
½ c chopped parsley (I didn't have fresh parsley so I used about 2 Tbsp dried parsley)
½ c grated Parmesan cheese, tossed with 1 Tbsp flour (asiago cheese would also be a good substitute)


Recipe



Cook the bacon and garlic in a skillet or saute pan until garlic is aromatic and bacon is cooked to your desired crispiness—don't let it get too crispy though.
Start cooking the pasta.
Add the chicken broth, and bring to a boil and cook until it has reduced by about half. Add the half and half and bring back up to a slight simmer and whisk in the Parmesan cheese mixture, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat.
When pasta is done, drain it well and add it immediately to the bacon mixture. Add the parsley and toss quickly. (Since I used the dried parsley, I added it when I added the Parmesan so that the extra heat would pull more flavor out but I would definitely wait to add at the end if using fresh parsley.)

The original recipe said to start the pasta cooking at the beginning but I think it will get done before your ready for it so I would wait until the bacon is done before starting the pasta.

The flavor of this recipe reminds me of Johnny Carinno's "Bowtie Festival" which also has chicken and roma tomatoes and red onions. I don't think that the tomatoes or onion are necessary but I am going to saute some chopped, boneless, skinless chicken breasts with the bacon and garlic the next time I make it. Also, I think that the ingredients for the sauce should be doubled if adding chicken.

I also think that it would make a more attractive presentation to serve the pasta on a plate and pour the sauce on top of the pasta instead of tossing it all together. But the taste would be the same either way-it just depends on how you want to serve it.