SPAGHETTI CARBONARA FOR TWO SENIORS

Here's another recipe that I've been making for quite a number of years. Last night, I finally thought to take some pictures. It is fairly quick to prepare. My husband would like more bacon in it, but I think two strips each is plenty. You, of course, can use as many as you'd like

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA 

Ingredients:

4 strips of bacon, cut in 1” pieces

1 egg

3Tbsp. fresh ground Parmesan

Salt and pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

1 large plum tomato, diced (optional)

Chopped chives for garnish

Spaghetti for two    

Directions:

Boil the water for the spaghetti and cook it according to directions

Sauté the bacon pieces until they are just browned, the way you would for regular strips.

Meanwhile, mix the egg, parmesan, salt and pepper and garlic in a small bowl.

When the bacon is cooked, remove it from the pan, leaving the drippings in the pan.  When the pieces are cooled, mix them into the egg mixture.

When the spaghetti is done, take a few tablespoons of the pasta water and add it to the bacon drippings.  Drain the spaghetti and put in in the pan, mixing in the drippings.

Pour the egg mixture over the spaghetti and mix that in, then mix in the diced tomato, if used.

Sprinkle chives on top.

Serve.

QUICK PASTA CARBONARA FOR TWO

This meal takes about 20 minutes - the time it takes to get water to a boil and cook up some pasta.  We like shells for something like this. The onions and bacon get caught in the shells so you have some with every bite.

 

Start sautéing 6 slices of bacon cut into 1 inch pieces.  Coarsely chop one medium onion. Sauté these for a while until the bacon begins to brown and the onions soften. Add about a teaspoon of chopped garlic.  Add some fresh ground pepper.

 

Continue to cook this until the pasta is done.  Take a half a cup or so of the pasta water and add it to the pan.  Drain the pasta and add it to the pan. Mix it all up and serve it with parmesan cheese on top.

 



MACARONI AND BLEU CHEESE FOR TWO

Bubbly hot out of my trusty toaster oven.

This is my rendition of the recipe Magnolia's Baked Blue Cheese and Macaroni  introduced to us a SCCL Cooking Fingers Club by Elaine Wilson. The dish is to die for, but unless you're having a group it is quite large: one pound of pasta versus one cup. The recipe comes via the Nothing Could Be Finer cookbook, submitted by Chef Donald Barickman, Magnolias Restaurant, Charleston, South Carolina

1 cup dried macaroni

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. flour

1 cup ½ and ½

4 oz. mozzarella – grated*

1+ oz. Roquefort, Stilton or other strong blue cheese**

Salt and pepper to taste

Dash of Tabasco

Preheat oven to350°

Cook macaroni until just undercooked, about 8 minutes.

In 4 qt. sauce pan, melt the butter, whisk in the flour to make a roux, then add the ½ and ½ to make a sauce.  Cook for a few minutes. Add shredded mozzarella and stir until thickened.  Stir in the bleu cheese and allow it to melt until maybe just a few lumps are left.

Drain macaroni and add it to the sauce pot, stirring to evenly coat all the pasta.

Grease a small baking dish and pour in the macaroni mixture. Bake for about 1 hour until top is golden and bubbling.

I added some sliced green onions for a bit of color.

*   the original recipe uses Monterey Jack cheese, but I've always got mozzarella on hand so I substituted.

** to be true to our lovely state of South Carolina, you should use Clemson Blue. It is usually available at Young Plantation/Reid's on Rt.521 at Rt.160 in Indian Land.

QUICK SAUCE WITH CANNED TOMATOES

Here's a quick topping for ravioli, as we had last night, or perhaps for fish or poultry.  The info on the can of petite diced tomatoes indicates there are 3.5 servings in the can,  I suppose you could serve this for three, but we feel it is just right for us. 

You can see my little cheat sheet from the first time
I concocted this topping. 

You'll notice the minced garlic - yes, well, I use the prepared stuff because it's available.  Truthfully, I've yet to taste the difference between the prepared and the fresh.  Maybe it's because the cooks I know who use the fresh are overcooking it and killing it.  I really don't know.

I use 'fresh' basil that I've chopped up and frozen. I like it better in fresh dishes.  I save the dried basil for a big pot of long-cooking spaghetti sauce.

We like the Trader Joe's (Trader Giotto's, as it says on the package) Beef Bolognese Ravioli.  There are two servings in the package, and, depending on life's little unknowns, there are eleven or twelve ravioli's in each package.  Guess who gets five and guess who gets six. 

So, here's the method:

Ingredients: onion, butter, oil, 14.5 oz. can petite diced tomatoes, garlic, fresh basil, parmesan, salt and pepper. 

-If you're topping ravioli then start the water to boiling.  Follow your own package directions or preferences for adding salt.  If you're topping fish or chicken you can prepare the topping during the last ten minutes or so of their cooking.

-Saute a chopped onion, as large as you'd like, in a bit of butter and oil.  Cook it until it begins to get translucent.

-Pour in the petite diced tomatoes, add a clove of 'real' garlic or the equivalent of prepared minced - about 1 tsp.  Add a tablespoon of fresh, chopped basil.

-Keep this on a low to medium heat until your ravioli is ready.  Add about 1/3 cup of parmesan at the last minute, just after you turn off the heat.

-Plate it all up and serve.

PASTA WITH SAUSAGE, PEAS AND MUSHROOMS - FOR TWO

Here's another repost from Latelife Recipes:

Adapted from recipe in Pasta for Pennies in the May 2012 issue of Country Living, I made this for our supper this evening. It was very good, if I do say so myself. I think you could use two sausages if you care to, though one was enough for us. The recipe said to mix the meat mixture with the pasta, but I served it, as you see in the picture, with the mix on top of the pasta.

1 large Italian sweet sausage, casing removed, meat broken up

2 cups – more or less according to appetites

4 or 5 white mushrooms, sliced

2 Tbsp. white wine

½ tsp. minced garlic
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ cup fresh or frozen peas
2 Tbsp. milk or ½ n ½
1 Tbsp. butter
Salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium heat, sauté the sausage meat, breaking it up to have nice crumbly bits. Sauté until it is nicely browned and remove and set aside the drained sausage.

Meanwhile, prepare the pasta according to the package directions. Shells work very well, though the original recipe was with rigatoni. When the pasta is done, reserve about 2 tbsp. of the cooking water and drain the pasta and set it aside.

Brown the sliced mushrooms in the sausage fat, adding some olive oil if needed.

Deglaze the pan with the wine – water, if you prefer, scraping up all the burned bits. Add the garlic, thyme, peas, reserved meat, to the pan and stir it up.

Add the reserved pasta water, milk, and butter, and simmer it all until the mixture thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add reserved pasta to the pan, stir and heat through. Serve

BACON AND EGG PASTA FOR TWO

Over a year ago I started a blog about cooking for two seniors. I posted fairly regularly, but gradually I began to forget that blog existed - it's easy to do in this busy world. Rather than maintain the two blogs, I decided to cobine them and gradually repost the originals to this blog, then go on and post new recipes. So here is an installment from May of 2012.

My usual method for recording recipes is to do it as though I was speaking to you. I don't often list all the ingredients at the top of the recipe, but include them as I go along, narrating how to prepare the dish. It is a good idea to read through the entire procedure before you start, making sure you have everything on hand and know what's involved.

INGREDIENTS AND METHOD Read through recipe before starting

¼ lb. linguini - cook, reserve 1/3 cup of the liquid meanwhile...

cook 2 slices thick-cut bacon, diced and cook until crisp.

Remove bacon and dry on paper towels. Save the grease.

To bacon grease in the pan, turned to medium to low heat, add
3T white wine

½ tsp. minced garlic

2 oz. jar chopped pimentos and liquid, and reduce heat to low. (optional)

Whisk 2 eggs with 1/3 cup of half ‘n’ half,

add this mix to the skillet, stir constantly until

the mixture coats a spoon, but don’t scramble the egg!!

Add the mix to the pasta, along with the bacon, a handful of baby spinach (optional),

¼ cup parmesan cheese, 1 Tblsp frozen parsley or basil. Stir in the cooking liquid. Serve topped with more parmesan and a grind or two of fresh pepper.