Adventures in cooking #3: This is not carbonara
This is what I made for dinner today:
"Almost quiche with pasta"
Serves: 3
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Estimated calories per serving: 782
Ingredients:
8 oz short pasta (I used mezze penne)
A knob of butter
1/2 Vidalia onion, diced
3 eggs
3 handfuls grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
6 oz bacon, cooked to desired crispness and chopped or crumbled (not salted bacon bits)
Directions:
Bring a saucepan of water to boil and cook the pasta according to the directions.
Put an empty saucepan on the burner with the heat turned to the lowest setting.
Heat a frying pan over medium high heat and add butter. When the butter has melted, add the onions. Saute to desired texture.
Transfer the onions to the sauce pan. Add the eggs and stir until mixed. Then add cheeses, bacon, and stir. When the pasta is done, drain, let stand for a minute or so, and then stir pasta into the mix. Stir until mixed well and serve warm.
Things to try next time:
Add a very small amount of Emmental or Gruyère cheese, just enough to add a hint of Swiss cheese-like flavor.
Alternatively, I feel like it could benefit from some herb or spice but I'm not sure what.
Variations:
For a healthier meal, you could probably use soft tofu in place of the ricotta cheese. You could probably also use ricotta cheese that uses lighter milk.
If you want a stronger onion, a white or yellow onion would suffice. I'm not certain how well a red onion would work.
You can replace the bacon and onion with whatever you like to have in a quiche.
For vegetarians, replace the bacon and onion with cooked broccoli and cheddar cheese. I would suggest replacing the ricotta cheese with tofu and possibly omit the Parmesan cheese.
Background:
The original iteration of this meal was supposed to have been smoked tofu carbonara. It ended up not being that because of the following:
Since bacon and onion are traditional in a quiche, I decided to try making the dish with those. In place of the tofu, I used ricotta cheese to fill the same texture role that the tofu had. I omitted the chives because they seemed redundant with the onion already included.
That's all well and fine. How did it turn out?
I think it turned out pretty well. No one complained or suggested I shouldn't make it again so I'd say it's a keeper in this form.
"Almost quiche with pasta"
Serves: 3
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Estimated calories per serving: 782
Ingredients:
8 oz short pasta (I used mezze penne)
A knob of butter
1/2 Vidalia onion, diced
3 eggs
3 handfuls grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
6 oz bacon, cooked to desired crispness and chopped or crumbled (not salted bacon bits)
Directions:
Bring a saucepan of water to boil and cook the pasta according to the directions.
Put an empty saucepan on the burner with the heat turned to the lowest setting.
Heat a frying pan over medium high heat and add butter. When the butter has melted, add the onions. Saute to desired texture.
Transfer the onions to the sauce pan. Add the eggs and stir until mixed. Then add cheeses, bacon, and stir. When the pasta is done, drain, let stand for a minute or so, and then stir pasta into the mix. Stir until mixed well and serve warm.
Things to try next time:
Add a very small amount of Emmental or Gruyère cheese, just enough to add a hint of Swiss cheese-like flavor.
Alternatively, I feel like it could benefit from some herb or spice but I'm not sure what.
Variations:
For a healthier meal, you could probably use soft tofu in place of the ricotta cheese. You could probably also use ricotta cheese that uses lighter milk.
If you want a stronger onion, a white or yellow onion would suffice. I'm not certain how well a red onion would work.
You can replace the bacon and onion with whatever you like to have in a quiche.
For vegetarians, replace the bacon and onion with cooked broccoli and cheddar cheese. I would suggest replacing the ricotta cheese with tofu and possibly omit the Parmesan cheese.
Background:
The original iteration of this meal was supposed to have been smoked tofu carbonara. It ended up not being that because of the following:
- Tofu: The local grocery store does not carry smoked tofu (and, in fact, I have no idea where to buy it in Raleigh) so I used normal tofu. I tried to marinade the tofu for thirty minutes in a pepper sauce but this didn't transfer any significant flavor and made the firm tofu much more interested in crumbling while frying.
- Eggs: The original recipe calls for just egg yolks. However, when I tried to fish out the yolks for the two eggs, both broke. I thought about it for a moment, then decided to just mix them together and put it all in the warm bowl.
- Stir rather than toss: With the tofu being in its crumbling, soft state, tossing didn't make a lot of sense. Instead, I stirred the tofu in with the eggs and Parmesan and then stirred the pasta in.
Since bacon and onion are traditional in a quiche, I decided to try making the dish with those. In place of the tofu, I used ricotta cheese to fill the same texture role that the tofu had. I omitted the chives because they seemed redundant with the onion already included.
That's all well and fine. How did it turn out?
I think it turned out pretty well. No one complained or suggested I shouldn't make it again so I'd say it's a keeper in this form.