Recipe review: Mad Hungry's Spaghetti Carbonara

Last night I was in no mood to cook dinner. We'd had a brief, lovely visit from my parents in the afternoon, but apart from that my day consisted of multiple loads of laundry, homework cajoling, and my barely teenaged daughter off on a "double date" at a neighborhood park (OMG). I was tired. I wasn't feeling it. I wanted pasta, but I wanted EASY pasta. And not our USUAL easy pasta (which consists of pasta, butter and shredded cheddar cheese, OH YES IT DOES), either.

I recalled a recent bacon-centric episode of Mad Hungry in which Lucinda Scala Quinn made what appeared to be an obscenely easy spaghetti carbonara, so I went Googling for the recipe and, ta da! I found it. It's right here.

I made a couple of modifications to the recipe. For one, I used fettuccine instead of spaghetti. For two, I only had about four strips of bacon, so ... not quite the half-pound that the recipe calls for. Also, instead of adding the egg mixture to the pasta/bacon mixture in the pan, I added the pasta/bacon mixture to the egg mixture in the bowl, which is how Lucinda did it on the show (also, it seemed like there'd be less chance of scrambled egg that way).

I served the pasta with a fresh green salad consisting of torn romaine lettuce, shredded carrots, sliced cucumbers and tiny cherry tomatoes (arranged salad-bar style, so everyone could fix their own). Bread would have been nice, but I couldn't be arsed to make any.

The verdict?

Kathy: I absolutely loved this pasta. It was delicious, and so easy, and so different from what I usually make. I will definitely make it again, but with more bacon next time!

The Husband: Commented that he'd put too much on his plate and that he didn't realize how filling it would be. I failed to quiz him at length as to whether he liked it. I get the feeling this was not his favorite, but that he'd eat it again if I made it.

The Son: He does not like eggs. AT ALL. I told him what was in it, and he wanted to try it because it smelled good. He told me he LOVED it and ended up eating two generous helpings. I love cooking for this kid!

The Daughter: Loves bacon, loves pasta, loves eggs, loves cheese. Agreed to try this, but was so squicked out by the whole raw egg thing (and did not believe me when I told her the hot pasta cooked the egg just fine) that she talked herself out of eating more than a tiny bite. She begged off, claiming she didn't like the texture of it.

On to the ratings!

Kathy: Three out of four stars. Yummy and easy, what's not to like?
 

The Family: Two out of four stars. Two of us were not crazy about it, but two of us looooved it.