Cooking Night : Italian Part III, Fettuccine Carbonara and Onion-Baconated Chicken




Fettuccine Carbonara

As a pasta entree, there was demand for remaking a dish I had made with Mel once in the past. Both Bon Appetit and Cooking Light had published recipes for Carbonara one month. Honestly, I think we combined the recipes but I'm not sure. When it was first prepared, Mel and I used prosciutto but the Bon Appetit recipe called for pancetta. In contrast to normal, we pretty much followed the recipe. Due to popular demand for a vegetable they had eaten before, broccoli was substituted for broccolini. In a cooperative effort between at least three people, Neil and the pancetta, Rebecca with the fettuccine, and I'm not even sure who was taking care of combining it all with the sauce. I think if it were to be done again, it might be better to split the sauce in half and mix the combination in two settings. I know it dirties more bowls but I think there would've been a moister overall dish...that or in the future I would double the sauce.

The Bon Appetit Recipe can be found here. The Cooking Light recipe is here. We skipped the egg on top as we had an alternate meat entree.

For the meat entree, I switched out a fish recipe that was liked in previous cooking and used it for chicken.

Onion-Baconated Grilled Chicken

Ingredients

1 large Videlia onion
1 lb bacon
3-4 large chicken breasts
low salt soy sauce

1. Preheat outdoor grill.
2. Using a fish basket ($10 at Lowe's and well worth it), Place bacon strips about 1/2 apart across the basket.
3. Cover the bacon slices with single layer slices of onion
4. Place chicken on top of onion.
5. Layer more onion on top of chicken
6. Layer bacon strips 1/2 inch apart across the top of the chicken.
7. Lightly splash soy sauce across the top.
8. Close grill basket well. This is very important. Make sure the grill basket top is on as tightly as possible. You're not likely to break it but it is likely to open and spew out your contents if not closed well. Push the metal clasp as far down as possible.
9. Place the basket on the grill with the grill set to medium heat. Do not abandon the grill! Using a squirt bottle, shoot out the flames that are definitely going to rise.
10. After the chicken has cooked 10 minutes, get ready to flip. BEFORE flipping, go ahead and readjust the grill basket. As the contents cooked, they have lost water and the lid on the basket will likely be loose. After adjusting and tightening, flip and continue monitoring the chicken with your trusty squirt bottle.
11. This takes 20-30 minutes to grill. Be sure to check the chicken to make sure it is done. It should be white all the way through.

Comments

  1. Hrm. I think we made the carbonara during our "double the sauce" phase...

    Yummy onion-baconated chicken! But where's the garlic?

    ReplyDelete

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