Pasta alla Carbonara

This might just be the best thing I learned to make in culinary school. We learned it in our "dairy and eggs" class and since it has both, it's perfect. The recipe our instructor made was not gluten free so I didn't get to try any of it but it smelled so insanely good that I made it myself at home with gluten free pasta a few days later. It's. So. Good.
There are no tricks to this, it's one of the easiest recipes out there. Because it has so few ingredients, make sure to use the good stuff, namely parmigiano reggiano. You want the onions and garlic to get velvety soft and translucent, don't rush it. Once you mix this up, you need to eat it fast. It doesn't keep and it's not good cold so be ready to scarf. For everyone here in LA, you can get all these ingredients at Trader Joe's and this recipe is the perfect antidote to the grey, drizzly weather we're having today. Please to enjoy:

Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Ingredients:
- 1 lb gluten free spaghetti
- 4-6 oz pancetta, diced (or guanciale -I wish!)
- 1 small yellow or brown onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic sliced lengthwise, paper thin
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup grated parmesan cheese (more if you want extra for sprinkling)
- salt and black pepper to taste

Cook pancetta for about two minutes, until fat begins to render then add diced onions.

Cook over medium heat until pancetta is crisp and onions are slightly caramelized and buttery soft (this took me about 40 minutes. no joke.)

Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes more, until the garlic is softened and aromatic.

Cook the (gluten-free) spaghetti using directions on package.
Before draining the pasta, reserve a cup of the cooking liquid to add later if you need it.

Mix the egg yolks, cream and cheese together in small bowl.

Drain the pasta and quickly add it to the pancetta/onion/garlic mixture.

Add the egg/cream/cheese mixture. Toss/stir vigorously and quickly to make the sauce and coat the pasta. Add as much cooking liquid as you need to make the sauce a thick, even consistency. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Serve immediately with grated parmesan cheese.

This is heaven.

Like Buttah

I have seen lots of chefs use clarified butter but I never knew what it was or why one would use it until I learned about it in cooking school. Clarified butter has had the milk solids removed so that just the butterfat remains. The milk solids burn much faster than than the fat so you can use clarified butter at much higher temperatures without ending up with a smoky kitchen and brown (or black) butter. Clarified butter acts a lot like oil. It isn't necessary to refrigerate it and if you do refrigerate it, it becomes hard and needs to be brought back to room temperature or heated to become liquid again. I thought it would be difficult to separate the milk solids from the butterfat but it was actually very easy!
Now you can do it too!

Step 1: Toss your butter into a sauce pan. You want it to be small enough that you can easily skim your ladle in it once the butter melts. If it's too shallow, this will be tricky.

Step 2: With the pan over medium heat, let the butter melt gently. If you need to turn they heat down, that's ok. You want the butter melted but not boiling or burning.

Step 3: Using a ladle, skim off the frothy top layer, leaving behind as much of the golden liquid underneath as you can.

Step 4: Continue skimming until all of the froth is removed an you are left with just the butterfat.

Step 5: Keep the milk solid froth in a separate container,you can serve it over popcorn later!

 That's it! You did it! Easy Peasy! Look at that beautiful clarified butter. Ready for omelet makin'!