Creamy Delight - Spaghetti in Carbonara sauce

Not sure if its the richness or its simplicity that attracts me more to Italian food. Either ways its always a pleasure to cook pasta. Carbonara is an Italian pasta dish that's usually cooked with egg, cheese, fatty pork and black pepper.
Since I am not fan of pork we modify by using some heavy cream.  I also added some mushrooms, peas and sauteed shrimp for added flavors and textures. It turned out to be a welcome break to my usual dinner and is most definitely here to stay :)

Ingredients:

Pasta Spaghetti - good for 2 people
Chopped Mushrooms - 1/2 cup
Green Peas - 1/2 cup
Shrimp - 1/2 cup
Garlic salt
Ground Pepper
Paprika (optional)
Eggs (beaten) - 2  (I used the egg whites and yolk of 1 egg)
Heavy Cream - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Grated Parmesan cheese - 1 cup

Direction:

Bring water in a large pot to a roiling boil and add some salt to it. Drop the pasta in to cook to al dente - about 6-8 minutes. Once the pasta is cooked drain the liquid and set aside.
While the pasta gets cooked, heat the olive oil in a pan and add the mushrooms and shrimp and saute. Season it with garlic salt or some minced garlic and salt, paprika and freshly ground pepper
Add the green peas and continue to saute until the shrimp and mushrooms are cooked - about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the cooked pasta to the pan and mix well. Reduce the heat to simmer and add the cream, eggs, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and milk to the pasta. Mix well to combine the sauce but be careful to not let it curdle.
Give it a minute or two and turn off the heat. Sprinkle some of the leftover cheese on top and serve.

Tips: top with fresh chopped parsley or crushed peanuts.

bon appetit !!!



Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

                

Penne in Pesto Sauce

On a much needed rainy day after a long hot gruelling summer all that I wanted to do was sit out, watch the rain and sip some wine. So pasta was my obvious choice for dinner - which reminded me of a pesto sauce that I have been wanting to try ever since my visit to Carabbas. Pesto comes from pestâ which means "to pound or to crush". It is for most part made by crushing basil leaves with garlic, salt and pine nuts. sun dried tomatoes are a nice addition to the pesto. 

Anyways for this time around I wanted something that was healthy, quick, easy to make and I was not in the mood to run to the store. I luckily had the basic things that was needed and it was a breeze to put this together. I was ready with my sauteed mushrooms and pesto sauce by the time the pasta was cooked. 

Ingredients:
2 cup - penne pasta
2 cups - fresh baby spinach leaves
1/8 cup and some - pine nuts
1/8 cup - walnuts
1 tsp dried basil (fresh basil works best)
1 Tbs butter
3 Tbs olive oil
garlic 
1 cup chopped mushrooms
salt 
fresh ground black pepper
red pepper flakes


Directions:
Cook the pasta as per the instructions on your pasta box. I normally some salt to the water and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Drain the cooked pasta and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, saute the chopped mushrooms in 1 Tbs olive oil along with 1 clove of thinly sliced garlic, salt, and some red pepper flakes.
While that is going on add the washed spinach, basil, pine nuts, walnuts, 2 garlic cloves, salt, pepper, butter and 2 Tbs olive oil to a food processor or mixer and grind for a minute. the pesto should be thick but not smooth. 


Toss the pasta, pesto and mushrooms together and enjoy. Told you , it was a breeze :)


bon appetit !!!