Fried Potatoes & Egg

Tonight I decided that my small potatoes were getting close to going bad so I had to find something to prepare with them. I didn’t want it to take too incredibly long, so I decided to fry them up with some egg!

I had a bag of mini potatoes – a mix of white, red, and purple! The purple potatoes were neat. Had a nice flavour and leaked purple juice everywhere when I cut them. It was odd.

Ingredients:
Potatoes, quartered
3 eggs
Cheddar cheese
Olive oil
Garlic Salt
Onion Powder
Paprika
Italian Seasoning
Salt
Pepper

I put olive oil in the pan and fried up the potatoes. I sprinkled a liberal amount of the garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, s&p, and italian seasoning over the potatoes. Once those were nicely fried up, I added three eggs. I scrambled everything around. Once that was ready, I sprinkled with cheddar cheese et voila!

My bacon had gone bad, otherwise I would have added some of that. Next time I think I will add onions and peppers if I have some on hand (which I didn’t tonight). It was very frittata-like. I love having breakfast for dinner

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

I can’t believe I haven’t posted my recipe yet for Spaghetti alla Carbonara. It is one of my specialties and also one of Adam’s absolute faves. Every time I make it, it just seems to get better and better. It’s getting on par with my mother’s, and that is a feat in itself, even though it’s her recipe I follow!

Ingredients:

1/2lb of pasta (4 servings)
Pancetta (pork belly is also good, or bacon in a pinch. I buy pre-packaged from Fortinos – see pic below)
1 egg, 1 additional egg yolk
1/3 cup heavy cream (I use whipping cream)
1/8 tsp. paprika
1/2 cup grated parmesan
extra parmesan for sprinkling
spaghettini (thinner noodles than spaghetti)

Timing is key to this recipe. I have made the method very specific as otherwise things go weird as I have learned!

Cut pancetta if necessary. Put egg + extra yolk in a dish. Set aside.
Turn the water on to boil.
Put the pancetta in a frying pan on medium-high heat.
Once the water starts to boil, put in pasta.
Pancetta should be done shortly before the pasta. Turn heat off and add cream and paprika to the pancetta mix,  leaving the pan on the warm burner. Do not drain the fat. There should be about one tbsp. of fat in the pan.
Drain the pasta. Keep an eye on the pancetta/cream mix – stir. Put the pasta back in the pot over the warm burner.
Toss pasta with butter.
Add the parmesan to the eggs and blend. Set aside.
Pour thickened pancetta/cream mix over the pasta. Toss.
Pour the egg/cheese mix over the pasta. Toss.
Keep stirring the pasta around in the pan for about 2min while the residual heat cooks the eggs slightly.
Add some extra parmesan and mix it around.
Serve!!

I forgot to take pictures before we devoured it. We both have a one-track mind when it comes to this stuff – EAT IT QUICK! So I took a pic of the leftovers. Yes, this is a high-fat meal. But you just have to give in sometimes and ENJOY.

Chocolate Nut Bark

This is probably the simplest recipe I have ever made. It’s quite simple – melt semi-sweet chocolate over a double-boiler, pour into parchment-lined pan, top with mixed nuts of your choice. Cool in fridge until firm, then break into pieces. Done!

The recipe calls for 12oz. of chopped semi-sweet chocolate and 2 1/2 cups of mixed nuts (I used salted – breaks up the sweetness of the chocolate). The chocolate is to be melted over a double-boiler and poured into a 9×13 pan lined with parchment paper. I used more than 12oz. but still used the 9×13 pan. It made for very thick bark, but delicious nonetheless!

As for nuts, I used pistachios, filberts, peanuts, almonds, and cashews. Next time I will probably put walnuts in as well, but it was a gift for my family and mom doesn’t like walnuts. The filberts were a bit tasteless.

All in all, it’s pretty tasty! A great recipe for a beginner for sure.