Dinner Pasta-bilities

'ello Guv-nah! Hope you had a great Tuesday! The day is pretty much complete and we're on to Hump Day!!

This week is finals week for the High Schoolers so it's pretty easy peasy for me. 2 periods a day AND it's a minimum day... Waahooo!

I was so happy that I left this in the teacher's bathroom today.... shhhh don't tell it was me :)

After you read my blog... head on over to http://www.operationbeautiful.com/ You will feel good.

Since it was a minimum day, a bunch of my cool co-workers and I went to this AMAZING place called Anchos in Riverside. Maaaaan, their homemade tortillas are Bomb-dizzle! I had about 5 or..10. Seriously, best EVER! I wish I had a picture but I didn't have my camera. Oh and I DID have leftovers but I left it on the table like a dork. ::doh:: don't you hate that!!

When I got home, that's when the the magic happened... hold on tight friends, it's going to be a grand ol' time!

For our wedding in October, our good friend Herbert aka Herbie con carne and his gf Polly got us the bestest gift!

It challenged me to a duo.... challenge ACCEPTED.

I used a pretty basic recipe out of the Ikea Cookbook.... yeah neither did I.

Egg Pasta
3 cups of flour
4 eggs
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tbs of olive oil

First, make a well of the dry ingredients and pour the beaten eggs into the middle.

Mix from the inside out. Add the olive oil.  Extra points for using your hands!! Appreciate this picture because I used my left, unfloured hand to snap this shot.

Next, knead like crazy for 10 minutes until you get a smooth looking ball. If it's too dry, add water, if it's too wet, add flour.  Cover with a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.

After that, cut the dough into 4 sections, flour the countertop or a cutting board and roll out the dough until desired thickness. I say the thinner the better. I made mine a bit thick.

Then, put the thingy in the thingamahbob to make the pasta. I chose to make fettuccine!

Don't forget to smile!
Then, let the good times roll!

Lay them out on a floured towel and let them firm up for easy handling. One of my GREAT friends Irish helped separate the fettuccine. I love her!

While her lil sister Jo, who I also LOVE, snapped awesome photographs!

Let some water boil, add salt and olive oil (if you want) and carefully add the pasta. Cook for 5-7 minutes.

In the meantime, this was happening...

Asparagus cutting

Wine pouring

More picturas.

Then, there was the Carbonara..... sweet baby Jesus! I took three recipes, merged the things I liked, ditched the things I didn't and created a delicious monster. ::claws::

There was a choice... prosciutto or bacon.... I put both because I'm cool like that.

One cookbook whispered Pecorino Romano, while the other said Parmigiano Reggiano. I used both.

Project Wifey Wife Week #3
Carbonara

In a frying pan:
-Heat the meat until brown
2-3 tbs of olive oil
6 slices of prosciutto, torn apart
2 slices of bacon, diced
-Add
1 clove of garlic, minced

In a separate bowl

2 eggs
5 egg yolks
2 tbs butter
1/2 cup of cream
lots of pepper
1/2 cup of romano cheese, grated
1/2 cup of Parmigiano Reggiano, grated

-Slightly beat eggs, add the remaining ingredients and lets sit, unmixed

When the frying pan mixture is crispity crunchity, add oil and all to hot pasta.

With the quickness, add the egg mixture and mix well. The heat should cook the egg, but if you are leery about the uncooked eggs like we were, let the mixture hit the pan for a quick second. It might curdle, but it'll taste great!

Add more cheese, because its "Grate"

Serve to some of your favorite people on the planet and watch them clean their plates!

It was a hit!

Dessert was also AMAZING!!

Honey toasted Pound cake with Lemon-lime Orange Mascarpone Cream

I shall post the recipe for this tomorrow...

What is your FAVORITE easy dessert?

p.s I enabled the comments for non blogger folks! Feel free to comment... that'll make me happy!