Spaghetti Carbonara

You just NEVER KNOW when you might have to feed some hungry men...and the quickest and most delicious thing is spaghetti!!

For one thing -- I ALWAYS have it on hand...and for another thing, right now, with the garden winding down, you have some tomatoes to use up, maybe some onions, basil or parsley...

A few of my hungry men...Cory, Dean and Ross.

First -- put a pot of water on to get it boiling -- then look in the frig. My go-to-pasta dish is Carbonara, using leftovers. (If you are a REAL Italian -- you might want to stop reading right now...)

Great carbonara is more technique than recipe. Here's my version:

As I boil the whole box of spaghetti -- I fry off 4 strips of bacon -- very crispy. Set it aside..(it could just as well be salami or ham, or leftover breakfast sausage)

Then chop up what I found in the frig -- and saute it in some of the bacon drippings:

4 green onions (tops and all) -- or any kind of onion...
1/2 c. leftover broccoli (or green beans or peas)
some sliced black olives
some green olives
2 garlic cloves, minced

When the spaghetti is cooked -- drain it. Put a little olive oil into the hot spaghetti pot...dump the hot spaghetti back into the pot, along with the sauteed leftovers. Beat 4 eggs with 1/2 c. of milk (or cream). Toss the spaghetti with the egg mixture, and add 1 cup of Parmesan cheese.

At the last minute, toss the spaghetti with the crispy bacon...and if you have it -- some fresh parsley, some diced fresh tomatoes or sliced cherry tomatoes.

DELICIOUS...

And I swear to you -- it took me longer to write about it than it will take you to actually COOK IT.

In less than 20 minutes, you can have a very large, colorful bowl of delicious food on the table...and it's a little bit different every time.