A Hoosier Coal Miner's Spaghetti aka Mock Carbonara

Do you know what happens when you take a little vacation and eat out three meals a day? You get lazy in the kitchen! At least for me that is true! We took a little weekend get away a week a go and I am still easing back in to a 3 meal a day cook schedule. I hope you will forgive my lack of blog posts in the interim.

It's also been extremely hot and muggy. Our home has a lot of windows that provide gorgeous light into my kitchen, but when it is this hot, it also provides plenty of heat as well. I am a firm believer in the old phrase, "If you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen." This week, I just couldn't take the heat. We've had mostly fruit plates and easy salads or sandwiches straight out of the fridge. Alas, that is my excuse for not posting. 

This recipe is so good that I'm sure you will agree that it was worth the wait. If you are a fan of pasta in rich cream sauce, prepare yourself. There may be a food coma after this meal. Let's talk Carbonara baby!

I first discovered carbonara at a Quizno's restaurant. I am typically a french dip kind of gal, I ordered a chicken carbonara sandwich at their Plainfield, IN location when I was feeling adventurous one day and zut alors! I fell in complete love, amour, or I guess I should say amore. I came home searching the web for every carbonara sauce recipe I could find.

In searching I also found that carbonara originated in the middle of the 20th century. Of course it is always hard to trace the exact origins of a recipe but I found out that it was a sauce based on bacon, eggs, cheese and black pepper over pasta? The Italian word, carbonaro, means charcoal burner. The Wikepedia entry for carbonara notes that some people believe the recipe was first made for Italian Charcoal workers, and that even now some refer to it as Coal Miner's Spaghetti in the United States. Well, that made me love it even more. My great grandfather was a coal miner in Indiana, and today many men in our area make their living deep in Hoosier coal mines. 

Now you will notice that my recipe does not call for eggs. I tried about 3 recipes using eggs and tempering them is a hassle to me. I just really didn't like any of those recipes and they definitely were nothing to write home, or to you about! Feel free to temper an egg and add it, but honestly the sauce is so rich without it, that I suggest you try it "as is" first. I'm calling this one HOOSIER Coal Miner Spaghetti aka Mock Carbonara.Bring on the bacon, cheese, and cream. Hold the Egg. 

Here is what you will need:

½ lb bacon

½ medium red onion (diced)

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

1 T Garlic Powder ( or 2 cloves minced fresh garlic)

1 Cup Parmesan Cheese (grated)

1 8 oz. Pkg Cream Cheese (diced in 1/2 inch cubes)

1 to 1 ½ cups Heavy Cream (Whole Milk will work here too, especially if you add the egg!)

1 lb.of spaghetti (I just used dry, boxed spaghetti, boiled in salted water with 1 teaspoon of olive oil added after drained.)
Freshly ground black pepper

STEP 1 : Dice and brown the bacon in a heavy skillet.

Now, I've mentioned before that I love my Calphalon cookware. I used my omlet pan (dans hommage a les oeufs) for this one. 

It is a good idea to stick your bacon in the freezer for a little while, maybe while you are gathering your utensils and ingredients, because it makes it much easier to dice if it is near freezing. This time I used my favorite large chef's knife to quickly dice it up, but I have used kitchen sheers in the past. It is easy to just quickly snip off small pieces in to your pan. Cook this on a medium high setting. You will want the bacon to be just to crisp state. Watch this closely. Diced bacon cooks much faster and you will not want a scorched taste in your sauce from over-crisp bacon.

STEP 2 : Dice and add the onion.

Any time I am preparing an Italian dish I use red onion. I got this tip from Ina Garten,The Barefoot Contessa. She's my hero even though she doesn't even know my name! I love to watch her show and read her blog when I have extra time. Just dice up about 1/2 of medium sized one for this. Add this to your pan with bacon and let it absorb some of the grease. You'll only need to cook this for about 4 or 5 minutes. Just until it is soft and getting translucent. 

STEP 3: Add your seasonings.

As your onion cooking is a great time to add in your herbs. I used 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning and 1 Tablespoon of Garlic Powder. If you have fresh garlic on hand, I would use about 2 cloves minced very small and put them in last, just a minute or two before you add the cheeses. Again, scorched garlic does not make for a tasty sauce!

STEP 4: Bring on the cheese!

This is when we start bringing this simple but delicious sauce together. First, turn your burner down to a medium low setting. Add the grated parmesan cheese. I typically just buy it already grated. I've even used the parmigiano-romano mixed in the shaker. Kraft has several varieties and any of them would work. In this case, I used parmesan, straight up. 

Once the parmesan is incorporated into your onions, bacon, and well, let's face it, grease, then you will add in your cubed package of cream cheese. I used Philadelphia brand, also a Kraft brand and it worked great. Use a nice heat resistant rubber spatula to stir this scraping the sides well. This is when it gets thick.

STEP 5 : Cream please!

The final step is adding in your heavy whipping cream. You can also use milk if that is all you have on hand. You will want to pour this in slowly as you stir and incorporate it until you find a nice smooth, gravy type consistency. If you want to add some cooked or grilled chicken in as well, now is the time to do that. Be sure that your chicken is fully cooked before adding to the sauce.

STEP 6: Spoon it over pasta.

You can be creative with the type of pasta you choose for this. Spoon over the pasta and give a turn or two with your pepper mill for a fantastic dish. Any kind of pasta will work for this, but I just love spaghetti and it is something that is ALWAYS in my cupboard. I served ours with some peas and a few small grilled garlic toast wedges. My husband, the foodie snob loved this dish. "Fabulous. Restaurant quality!" he beamed. If you knew him, you'd know just how great of a compliment this is. He has a very sophisticated palate.

 Enjoy!