Thursday, September 15, 2011
On my honor
Yesterday for dinner I prepared a Rachael Ray dish -- Pasta Carbonara with Corn and Chiles. Sounds good doesn't it? I think it might have been, if someone else had prepared it.
I just don't do pasta very well, I think. I can cook the noodles, and make the sauce, but it's the combining of the two that is really apparently very difficult for me.
In this dish you are supposed to add the pasta and the eggy pasta water at the same time and toss quickly "to form a silky sauce, 1-2 minutes."
Mmmmm, not happening.
After about 30 seconds of tossing I had corn and bacon pieces flying every where, and my eggy water had pretty much dried up. Not exactly the scrambled eggs I always fear in this dish, but definitely not " a silky sauce."
The flavor was good, but it was dry, and unlike me, my family does not eat dry pasta. They like it really saucy.
I vow to never again create a pasta dish that needs to be tossed. Really. I do. And for a while (like a couple months) I vow to not try any new dishes that aren't guaranteed to be yummy and foolproof.
On my honor.
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5 comments:
Oh, no! I don't think I've ever attempted a recipe quite like that. I'd probably mess it up somehow, too. When it comes to pasta I stick with the tried and true spaghetti in meat sauce or with meatballs. Occasionally when I'm feeling really snazzy I'll make linguine in clam sauce.
Do you find that there is usually one or two types of dishes that you do well consistantly? I think my two would be soups/stews and meatloaf meals. My husband would probably add roast turkey to that as well...thank goodness for that as Thanksgiving is coming up fast. :)
On the other hand, I can't seem to make decent pork meals to save my life. Never moist, always dry. Nothing worse than dry porkchops (as one example). Even in the slowcooker I mess it up. What's up with that?! Any suggestions on how to have your pork come out juicy and moist? I'd love to hear.
I read over the recipe. If I were making it, I would not add the pasta with the egg-water (even though it says to). I would try to get a silky sauce together and add pasta last. I think "handful" is an ambiguous term for the cheeses. It does sound tasty on paper.
That sounds like something that I'd mess up too. Rachael Ray makes things look easy on TV, but her recipes don't always come together so well in real life.
I'm not a RR fan, but I made Pasta Carbonara once that was fabulous! I had 2 recipes, and the second time I made it, I think I used the other recipe and it wasn't as good. I guess Rachael is trying to be low fat with the pasta water; my recipe said to use the bacon grease!
SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA- Cook's Illustrated
(google it, I can't seem to make my computer cooperate this morning!)
I'm hardly a master in the kitchen, but this is the recipe that has been a "no-fail" for me, whole family loves it and it's easy!
This one calls for mixing the eggs with the cheese, forming something that looks somewhat pastey. I think it cooks the eggs, but doesn't create breakfast eggs. :) Truly, this is a good one! -Kate
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