The Cheesiest Mac and Cheese
It’s comfort food season! After a decade of blogging, I finally put up a recipe of my fave dish: mac and cheese.
It’s comfort food season! After a decade of blogging, I finally put up a recipe of my fave dish: mac and cheese.
This month I went rogue. With the move to Newfoundland and getting settled in a new home, I decided to complete Around the World in 12 Plates: Israel on my own. I wanted to get acquainted with my new kitchen, and while this challenge started …
The first time I went to Italy, I ate the same thing for every. single. meal. For me, there was nothing better than Spaghetti Carbonara, twirling those noodles coated with the thin and rich sauce. The simplicity. The flavour. The porky bits.
Sometimes I scold myself for not having trying more dishes on on that first backpacking trip in my early 20s, but then I think “Meh, why not eat the thing you love?”
I have a serious love affair with cheesy pasta, and as anyone who knows me could tell you, I could eat pasta all day, everyday.
And the best thing about Carbonara? The dish is SO easy to make. Like any good Italian classic, Carbonara has five solid ingredients (which, btw, does NOT include cream) and like any good pasta dish, has several origin stories.
Cabonara is derived from the Italian word “carbone” which means charcoal. The most wide-spread origin story for this dish is that it was regularly consumed by charcoal workers:
There are also stories that the dish was created by a secret society, The Carbonari (oooooou), who were heavily involved with the unification of Italy in 1870. Most others stories aren’t so glamourous. Others attribute this name to the way the dish was originally cooked, over charcoal, or that is was just a simple shepherd dish that got popular.
Many attribute the name to the restaurant in Rome where Spaghetti Carbonara was “invented” in 1912, La Carbonara. I myself am skeptical of this one. Food historians debate the significance of the fact that this dish didn’t make its way into the Roman culinary annals until the 1950s and 60s, with some claiming this was due to American soldiers demanding the dish they ate with powdered eggs after the Second World War.
Wherever it came from, I’m thankful for the pasta gods for bringing this dish into my life! Spaghetti Carbonara is a great weeknight dish, and quick to make. I adapted this recipe from The Kitchn’s version because it was just too big for two people on a weeknight. While Adam and I could definitely polish off a pasta dish made for six people with absolutely no problem, I felt like we didn’t need to go there. Some people put peas in theirs…but gross. Other cooks will toss in a clove of garlic, but I say no way! If you want authentic, avoid these ingredients.
This classic dish is so delicious I always eat more than I should, so I adapted The Kitchn's Spaghetti Carbonara for 6 to make it a recipe for two!