Carbonera & Crustini

Carbonera & Crustini

This was another great dinner. Steve and I timed ourselves on this one, and figured it took us about 30 minutes to make. Which means, we're getting better, but still need practice to get our speed down for "club kitchen" cooking. I made the Caprese Salad (entry following) and the crustini and Steve made the pasta. This pasta dish has been a tasty favorite of ours for a long while. Sometimes you'll see "Carbonera" called "Bacon and Eggs Pasta". It's made with Pancetta (Italian bacon) and eggs (plus other goodies like parmesan cheese and a touch of red pepper flakes). The only problem is that it is usually quite oily and rich, so he decided to try to cut some of the fat this time. We used center cut bacon (rather than the Pancetta which is extra fatty) and cut the oil down too. It was just as yummy, if not more-so. The crustini was a garlic demi bagette that I cut into small slices and brushed with garlic oil, salt and pepper. It was tasty. Crustini is often used interchangably in Italian cuisine with "crouton". They're just bigger versions of what we think of as a crouton. So they're big croutons or small slices of garlic bread. However you want to look at it! :-)