Eating Local: Egg Noodle Carbonara w/ Roasted Broccoli

This was the fastest DDC meal yet! We clocked this delicious meal at 9 minutes, not including bringing the water up to a boil. It was the last 10 mins of Return of the Jedi, I got the water going and as the Skywalker's reunited, I was boiling egg noodles. Over the weekend, I picked up; noodles, grains, honey, meats & veg from a fabulous farm just down the road. Time was tight but that's what carbonara is for!

Ingredients: for the carbonara

  • 2 small bags of egg noodles
  • 4 eggs, gently mixed in a bowl
  • 8 slices of bacon
  • 1 cup reserved pasta water
  • 1/2 cup of pecorino romano (not local)
  • salt & pepper

for the broccoli

  • Pre-heat broiler & place rack in 2nd slot from the top
  • 1 head of broccoli, broken into large florets
  • generous drizzle of olive oil (not local)
  • salt & pepper

Method:

  1. In a large stockpot, bring your pasta water up to a boil, salt the water & cook the noodles according to the directions
  2. REMEMBER: save a cup of the pasta water before you drain the noodles!!!
  3. In a large sauté pan, align your bacon strips and heat to medium/high
  4. While the noodles boil & the bacon cooks, grate a 1/2 cup of pecorino romano
  5. And cost the broccoli in olive oil, s&p and get it under the broiler (will roast 5-7 mins)
  6. The sprint is almost over!
  7. Mix the eggs in a seperate bowl, add the cheese and whisk in the warm pasta water (this helps the tempering process)
  8. When the bacon is done, remove the strips from the pan & chop them up, add the cooked noodles into the bacon fat pan, toss to coat
  9. While the noodles are still warm, add the eggy, cheesy, pasta water, toss the noodles with tongs. The noodles will absorb all of the rendered fat & eggy liquid
  10. Pull the broccoli out of the oven before it burns to a crisp, plate it up & dig in!

We craved a robust red wine to go with this meal, so I grabbed a bottle of Serpent Ridge Vineyard Cab Sav/Franc. Serpent Ridge is located in Westminster, Maryland and makes a wide variety of delicious reds. As you can see - I was a double fisted drinker that evening. The dinner was equally yummy paired with my husband's homebrewed Dortmunder. The lemony beer cut right through the egg noodles for a clean finish.