Chicken Carbonara

I've found a new favorite way to use leftover chicken.



Sometimes I'll have leftovers from a roasted chicken in the grocery store, from a restaurant, or in this case, from a chicken I roasted at home using this method. After the initial chicken meal there are many things I like to do with the leftover meat -- enchiladas, salad, quesadillas, etc. But I think this chicken carbonara is definitely my new favorite. The rich, creamy Alfredo-esque sauce with slight smokiness from the bacon and the heartiness of the chicken makes this spaghetti dish absolutely no one's leftovers. (However, this dish itself doesn't actually make for good leftovers -- cream sauces rarely do. Reheating will make it separate, so you should eat whatever you make right then and there!)

I was inspired by this video, in which Giada De Laurentiis shares her recipe for chicken carbonara, but I adjusted it to a) serve 2 rather than what looks like an army; b) use slightly less cream to save on calories; and c) use bacon rather than pancetta, which is easier to acquire and less costly as well.



Chicken Carbonara

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 8oz dried spaghetti
• 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped
• 2 slices of strip bacon, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup regular or heavy whipping cream (or use 3/4 cup of cream and skip the whole milk)
• 1/4 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• salt to taste

Method

1. Start boiling water with some salt to make the pasta as the package directs. Cook pasta until just before al dente -- it will be cooked a little more in the sauce, so you don't want to overcook or it'll become too soft.
2. In a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom, start frying the bacon. When nearly crisp, add the garlic and saute together for a minute, until the bacon is crisp. Remove from heat.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Add the whipping cream, milk, cheese, and parsley. Stir until combined.
4. When the pasta is almost ready, place the pan with the bacon mixture back onto low to medium heat. Add the chicken.
5. Using tongs or similar, add the cooked spaghetti directly on top of the chicken, without straining. The pasta water it brings over is good, as it's starchy and will help with thickening the sauce.
6. Pour the cream mixture into the pan with the spaghetti. Gently mix everything together, until the sauce has thickened (this will go a LOT faster if you use heavy whipping cream; if you don't, just be patient, it WILL thicken) and the meat is well distributed. Do NOT heat so high that the sauce boils; this will cause it to separate and will be pretty much disgusting and inedible.
7. Taste it; you may find that the salt from the bacon is enough to season the dish. If not, use salt to taste.

Note: Giada serves her carbonara with some crushed walnut sprinkled over the top; this is intriguing but I haven't yet tried it.

Friday Dinner: Stuffed Zucchini

Tonight's dinner was inspired by a recipe posted by kay on LJ: stuffed zucchini!

When I saw it on food_porn, it appealed to me immediately because I loved stuffed things. It's nearly inevitable. Stuff something, and it will seem 10x more appetizing to me. I guess I'm just a freak that way. I knew it would also appeal to Trix, because she loves squash.



The basic idea is very simple: halve a zucchini, scoop out its middle, then fill it with your choice of ingredients. The great thing about this dish is how improvisational it can (and really should) be, enabling you to use up the last bits and pieces of whatever you've got in your fridge. It's also very open to an interpretation of flavors; kay on LJ uses curry powder in hers, I didn't (after my week+ of eating Indian food, I wanted something different).

I almost don't want to provide a recipe, because making it exactly as I did if you don't already have the ingredients on hand might prove time consuming and thus not worth the effort. I will just so you have a guideline to follow. However, the ultimate ingredients should be based on what you have and like. The beauty of this dish is how elegant -- and yet quick -- it can be.

Originally I was going to make two stuffed zucchini (four stuffed halves), but a late lunch at Red Robin (in which I ate my entire burger AND extra fries -- never, ever eat late, you always overeat) nixed that plan. I ended up making two stuffed halves, with the rest of the filling saved for another time.



Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients

• 2 zucchini, halved (you can choose to trim the ends or not)
• 2 slices of cooked bacon, crispy
• 3/4 cup buttermilk mashed potatoes
• 2-3 tbsp finely crumbled feta cheese
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 Roma tomato, diced
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• salt to taste
• dash of parsley flakes

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
2. Heat the olive oil in a small sauce pan. When it's hot, add the onions. Cook until they're wilted and starting to brown, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and saute for a couple minutes more. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized bowl.
4. Slice the zucchini in half as evenly as you can. Using a spoon, scoop out the insides, being careful not to go too deep -- you want the remainder to be whole, so they can be used as 'boats.'
5. Take a bit or all of what you've scooped out and chop it. Toss it into the bowl with the onion mixture.
6. To the bowl add the diced tomato, feta cheese, mashed potatoes (cold or warmed -- I just used cold), and bacon by crumbling it in. Mix well. Add salt to taste, a pinch or two should do it since the bacon is already salty.
7. Arrange the zucchini 'boats' in a baking dish. Stuff them with the filling -- be generous, as it'll not only taste and look better, but you should have plenty to go around.
8. Bake for about 30 minutes so that it's nicely browned and slightly crispy on top. (Alternatively you could bake for 20 minutes then broil them for a few minutes.)
9. Garnish with some parsley flakes on top and serve immediately.