Pasta Carbonara with Bacon

One of the easiest recipes I know, and also one of the best. Always a crowd pleaser, with little to no work. I've eaten double portions of this more often than I should probably admit. That Martha sure knows what she's talking about.

Spaghetti Carbonara - Martha Stewart
1 pound spaghetti
8 ounces (8 slices) bacon, cut 1 inch thick crosswise
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
3 large eggs
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
1/2 cup half-and-half, or cream

Set a large pot of water to boil (for pasta). In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 8 to 12 minutes; transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate.
Salt boiling water generously; add pasta and cook until al dente, according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together eggs, Parmesan, and half-and-half. Set aside.
Drain pasta, leaving some water clinging to it. Working quickly, add hot pasta to egg mixture. Add bacon; season with salt and pepper, and toss all to combine (heat from pasta will cook eggs). Serve immediately, sprinkled with additional Parmesan cheese.



Bacon

Eggs, creme, parmesan.

All ready to eat.

Coq Au Vin

Classic comfort food. Love.

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless chicken thighs
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 c carrots, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 ribs celery, VERY finely chopped
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
2 c red wine
1 box o stock, chicken
2 Tbsp butter
Finely chopped parsley

Sprinkle your chicken with salt and pepper. In a large pot brown in batches, remember, it doesn't necessarily need to be cooked all the way through, just browned and delish. Remove from pan and add in onion, shallot, carrots, and celery. Season with salt. Soften for a few minutes, then add in all the spices, and garlic. Cook another minute or so over medium heat. Add your wine and chicken stock, then add back in your chicken AND all the juices that have collected. Cook for 40-50 minutes at a low simmer. Remove chicken, and stir in your butter. Whisk together quickly to emulsify the sauce. Simmer and reduce a bit. Pour over the chicken. Serve with noodles.





The veg all ready to go.

Yummy browned chicken.

Veg softening.

Add the spices and garlic.

Stir together.

Add your stock and wine.

Start to simmer

Gnocchi

I cannot think of anything to say. Sorry guys.

I received these potatoes from the lovely gentleman we buy our pumpkins from every year. He is soooo awesome. I asked for the cost, and he told me they were free. *squee* I love free.

I also love Purple Potatoes.

Gnocchi can be scary. I'm not gonna lie, I was terrified the first time I made it. Turns out it's WAY easier than you think it will be. It does take a little time, ok a lot of time. It's worth it though.

Ingredients
2 lbs potatoes (I ALWAYS weigh them)
1/4 c egg, lightly beaten (this is about an egg and a half)
1 c flour
salt
pepper
and/or your seasoning of choice i.e. thyme, rosemary, oregano

Boil potatoes in a large pot with salted water. Potatoes are done when a fork pierces them easily. Remove potatoes one at a time. Peel, work quickly and be careful! These babies are hot. I find that running a paring knife down one side makes it easier. If your fingers can't handle it, just use the knife to hold the peel and rotate the potato with a fork. It will basically rip the peel off for you. Using a fork mash up the potatoes as you go. I mash them onto a sheet pan. Don't get overzealous here, you want a very even crumbly mashed potato. Remove any hard bits.
Once all potatoes are peeled and mashed let cool twenty to thirty minutes. If you can stir them halfway through that would be good. You're looking to dry out the potatoes as much as possible.
When ready to build you gnocchi, pull them into a loose pile and drizzle with your egg. I use a bowl scraper and mix this very gently, folding, so bottom to top. Then cover with about 3/4 of your cup of flour. Keep using your scraper to gently fold over and over until the flour is coating everything. At this point go ahead and season the gnocchi. If you are adding herbs put those in too. You want a little salt and a little pepper. NOT TOO MUCH. Then start to knead. Be gentle. Very gentle. The dough should not be sticky. If it is, continue adding flour until it doesn't stick to you anymore. The dough will be nice and moist. I use almost all of the flour, it just depends on the day. Now you might be asking, why don't we just chuck all of the flour in? Well, because you don't want too much flour. Too much flour will make your gnocchi heavy, and floury. We want light fluffy potato pillows, not chewy potato rocks.
Remember when you were a kid and you made snakes out of clay? Generic log snakes? That is what we're doing here. You want the log to be about the size of a sharpie marker, or a little bit larger. Take your paring knife and cut the log into inch or so sized pieces. Take a fork, hold it so the rounded size is up. Take a gnocchi, Gently push it onto the tines of the fork. You want stripes on the back, and a dimple of the front. These will help your gnocchi hold sauce. Lay them out in a single layer on a sheet pan or plate.
Cook gnocchi in boiling water ( I used my potato water, because why the heck not?) groups of 25 or so at a time. They will float to the top of the water when they are done, I leave them in just a tiny bit longer, I find they fluff up a bit more. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon. I like to put some of my sauce down before I start plating the gnocchi. I find they continue to absorb the sauce while they are warm. When your gnocchi are done, top with the rest of your sauce. Enjoy!

Please only make as much as you are eating right then. Gnocchi in my experience make not very good leftovers. They get kind of chewy and weird.

If you are not using the entire recipe (I never do) then put them in a single layer on a sheet pan and pop them in the freezer. Once they're good and frozen, transfer to a ziploc freezer bag, label, and leave in the freezer for... well forever. I've never had a batch go bad. When you're ready to cook them, just take and put them directly in salted boiling water. Yes, directly from the freezer.


Onto the pictures!


Unassuming delicious potato.... mmmmm....

Secretly it's a purple potato!

While the potatoes are boiling, assemble the troops.

Now it's all cooked.

Make a cut down the entire length of the potato.

See how easily they peel?

Once it's peeled, place it on your sheet pan or cutting board.

Take a fork and scrape around the potato. You're mashing! Yay! Don't over mash.

Mmmmm... purpley...

Drizzle with egg.

Use a bowl scraper or spatula to gently fold egg in.

Add your flour.

Fold in gently until the flour is coating everything.

See?
Then knead. Chunk off pieces to roll.

Our gnocchi dough ready to be rolled. See how cool and purpley it is???

Roll out. Be gentle, you want these fluffy.

Cut into one inch pieces.

Roll down the tines of your fork. You want a good dimple, it holds sauce!
Put the finished gnocchi on a sheet pan, sprinkle with flour, then be ready to cook!

Put them in boiling water, when they float let them go just a little bit longer, and then pull them out. The water looks weird because I used the water I cooked the potatoes in. It turned kind of green... weird...


I made a very simple sauce to go atop the gnocchi. You want a lighter sauce, the gnocchi are so delicate you don't want to overpower them. A little bit of browned butter with some sage would be lovely here. But... I wanted fancy. :D So here you go.

Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter, divided
4 or 5 slice thick cut bacon, chopped
1 large shallot, finely diced
2 large cloves garlic, finely diced
6 Baby bella mushrooms (half a package), sliced. Stems finely chopped.
1 - 2 c spinach, chopped
1 c milk or creme
Salt and Pepper

In a saucepan put your oil, and 2 Tbsp of the butter. Melt. Add the bacon and cook for a few minutes, until it's almost done. Add in your shallot and garlic. Sautee until shallot is translucent. Add in your mushrooms. The mushrooms soak up the butter, so go ahead and add the rest of your butter. Add the spinach, start to wilt. Then add in your milk or creme. Simmer a few minutes until reduced.


Bacon and butter.

Added the onions and garlic. Sautee until nice and translucent.

Add the mushrooms and stir. Then add more butter.

Spinach in!

Add the milk or creme.

Bean with bacon soup

This was sort of an on-the-fly recipe makeup. I had a sick hubby and hungry children at home. I think this turned out amazingly awesome though next time I will not add tomatoes, they changed the flavor too much for my liking.


Ingredients:
2 cans canellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium can crushed or diced tomatoes (I used half of a 28 oz can)
Quart of chicken stock or water
1/2 to 1 lb bacon, chopped (if using the pre-cooked kind microvave it until crispy and crumble/chop into small bits)
1-2 Tbsp olive oil, if using pre-cooked bacon
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
Pinch dried marjoram
Pinch dried thyme
Salt and pepper


In heavy bottomed pot cook bacon until desired crispness. Remove bacon, add onions and garlic to pot. If you are using pre-cooked bacon add your olive oil to the pot and saute in that. Cook until translucent.

Add carrots and celery, cook for a few more minutes until softened.



Add all other ingredients including bacon to pot. Turn heat up and bring to simmer. Simmer covered stirring occasionally for about an hour.

Cheddar pinwheels (Or anything really)

Ever need an amazing side and not know what to do? Other than my standards of Cheese biscuits and cheese stuffed crescent rolls (think I might like cheese?) I love these bacon and cheddar pinwheels. This recipe does work well with pretty much everything though. Try out some different fillings! Tuna and kale is a favorite of my hubby, we've tried several things. Shredded chicken with a bit of tomato is good too. This is all probably stuff you have on hand... if not... what do you have in your fridge? ;)

Bacon and cheddar pinwheels

1 pkg Pillsbury crescent rolls (reduced fat works, but stay away from the BIG rolls)
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp fresh chives, chopped (dried works as well)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 to 1 c. finely grated cheddar cheese
3-4 slices bacon, cooked and cooled then crumbled

Open your crescent rolls. Smush all of the seams together, you're using this as one big piece of dough. Roll out slightly. Combine the softened cream cheese, chives, and garlic powder. Spread this evenly over your dough. Go all the way to the edge, you're going to use all of the dough. Add your cheddar, and bacon. Roll up the LONG way. Your pinwheels won't cook in the middle if you roll the other way. Seal up the edge by pressing it together. Get our your sharpest knife and cut into 1/2 inch to inch long pieces. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake according to package directions. :) These are always a crowd pleaser, try them out!