| What is pancetta? | | I am also wondering about pancetta, for it looks like a meat. I would also like to try this in a recipe, for I hear pancetta is very good. Maybe with some rice and eggs (separately of course). I have seen the shows where all the chefs use it, so I thought to give it a try myself. | |
| | My Recipe: How to cook Spaghetti alla Carbonara | | In Italy, spaghetti alla carbonara is considered one of the easiest, least expensive pasta dishes. A typical Italian kitchen has all of these ingredients on hand. In the States, you may have trouble finding the pancetta, but it is well worth the trouble.Ingredients:
High quality organic spaghetti, a pound for every three or four people.
Organic, free range chicken eggs, one per person
Freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
Mediterranean sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Cubed pancettaSteps:
1. Start a pot of boiling water and cook the pasta.
2. Combine the eggs, cheese, salt and pepper in a small bowl and beat with a fork. Add only enough cheese to make it somewhat thick. If it looks like cake batter, you have added too much cheese.
3. Add some olive oil to a small saucepan and cook the pancetta thoroughly.
Keep warm until pasta is done.
4. Add the pasta and pancetta to the bowl and begin stirring gently. The grease from the bacon and the heat from the pasta will cook the eggs enough to prevent disease.Tips:
Cubed pancetta is literally raw, un-smoked bacon. It can be found in specialty grocery stores or in italian food marts.The true italian taste... | |
| | Gourmet Pizza. | | Last night my cooking club had a Gourmet Pizza themed night.We had about 8 or 9 people. Two people didn't bring anything (sometimes guests and/or people who can't come till late don't bring anything)We had:
-Pancetta Zucchini Pizza
-Italian White Pizza
-Roasted Red and Yellow Peppers and Goat Cheese Pizza
-Tandoori Chicken Pizza
-Chocolate Pizza
-Fruit Pizza with Cookie Dough Crust
-Fig and Goat cheese pizza with Port reduction.Plus we also had a salad, because one of the members figured we'd be eating a lot of pizza (a lot of carbs) and it would be a good idea to have something good for us.The Pizza that I made was the Italian White Pizza.The recipe:1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 cup Ricotta Cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp Garlic Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1/4 cup freshly chopped Basil
1 12inch Pizza CrustPre-heat oven to 450 degrees F.
If using a pizza stone, allow pizza stone to get hot in pre-heating oven.Mix Mozzarella, Ricotta, Parmesan cheeses, Italian seasoning, Garlic Salt and pepper together in a bowl.Place pizza crust on preheated Pizza stone or on fresh baking sheet.Top crust with... | |
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