Friday, June 29, 2007

Chicken and Lemon Spaghetti Carbonara



Traditionally, I am not one for creamy based pasta sauces. In fact, I never order them. Not only do they usually contain loads of calories, but they are just too heavy and rich for me. However, when I saw this recipe for spaghetti carbonara in the vol4 , issue 5 of Delicious magazine, it looked like it was none of these things. Sure it has some cream and eggs, but it wasn't drowning in gross amounts white, claggy sauce. So I decided to take a punt and try it.

And I was pleasantly surprised. I don't think this is something that I would eat every week, but as a special treat, it was great. Hubby raved about it and said it was extremely tasty, and he is a very picky eater. The lemon in the recipe really gave it a kick and the pancetta was lovely and salty. I definitely recommend this recipe for Carbonara.



Chicken and Lemon Spaghetti Carbonara
(serves 4)

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 chicken breast fillets
450g dried spaghetti
175g smoked pancetta, cut into thin strips
4 sage leaves, chopped
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
100ml thickened cream
finely grated zest of one lemon
50g unsalted butter
100g aged parmesan cheese, finely grated

1. Heat half of the oil in a small fry pan over medium heat. Season the chicken and then cook for 6 minutes on either side, or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil.

2. Cook spaghetti according to packet instructions. Whilst the pasta is cooking, heat the remaining oil and cook the pancetta for 3-4 minutes until lightly golden. Stir in the sage, then remove from the heat.

3. Cut the chicken into small pieces. Lightly beat the eggs, egg yolks, cream and lemon zest in a small bowl. Drain the spaghetti, then return to the saucepan, off the heat. Immediately add the pancetta, egg mixture, chicken, butter and 2/3 of the parmesan cheese. Toss with some fresh ground black pepper...the residual heat from the spaghetti will produce a smooth, creamy sauce.

4. Serve immediately and sprinkle with remaining parmesan.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

first time...enjoying your blog...thanks