Kitchen misadventure series 57: BIRTHDAY CARBONARA

This has always been my kids’ favorite and so this is the pasta dish that they usually request during their birthdays or even to bring during their class potluck party. So I guess, you can say I can cook this quite easily as long as I have the recipe ingredients on hand. What is needed is first, the pasta – any kind but the kids prefer the flat ones for carbonara like fettuccine or linguine noodles. This shall be cooked according to package instructions until al dente.

Now for the sauce, this is the tricky part – usually when I am pressed for time, I cook everything all at once but if not, I cook the carbonara the regular way – with the meat and vegetables first then the milk and cheese next. But more often than not I do not have the luxury of time and so I cook the carbonara sauce the easy way.

First, melt some butter (about two tablespoons) in a thick-bottomed pan. Saute garlic (lots of it, maybe an entire head or bulb,whatever it’s called) in the melted butter then add the tuna (if you’re using tuna or pre-cooked shredded chicken meat). Add the mushrooms and finally the red bell peppers. If I have more time to cook, I usually stop here and set aside the meat/mushroom mixture. Then I proceed to cook the milk and cheese mixture using the roux method. But when I am in a hurry, after the mushrooms and peppers have been cooked, I just add the milk, then the cream, then the cheeses and wait for the mixture to thicken. To serve, simply place the pasta on a plate, mix in the carbonara sauce and top with fried bacon bits, and voila - delicious carbonara!