Chicken with Pasta and Carbonara Sauce

Pancetta, pan fried and topped with freshly minced garlic.  Chicken tenderloins sauted in the pancetta grease and cooked through. Carbonara sauce made the traditional way.  This recipe contains all of this in a quick and dirty package.  Make it, Try it, and Enjoy.




Here is another recipe that evolved from the PA Bacon fest.  Imagine this, I am strolling around with the Cookingyo family, and boom.  I stumble upon the Bespoke Bacon tent.  A little background, I received a few pounds of Bespoke bacon as a birthday gift the other year, in addition I received a powder blue Bespoke Bacon “Bacon Gives Me A Lard On” t-shirt too.  Well I was wearing the shirt during the bacon fest, so I had a natural in.  I got to talking to the boys at the tent and they suggested I try the Pancetta.  Oh Hell yeah! I said I had a recipe in mind, and I acquired one pound.

In addition I asked to buy another t-shirt for a guy on the job who is deployed in the Persian Gulf, hearing that, they hooked me up with the t-shirt.  That was a stand up action and I give them props for that.

This recipe at it’s core is nothing more then a grilled chicken tenderloin and a traditional Carbonara sauce.  Let’s get cooking.

Ingredients:

1- 1/2 pounds of chicken tenderloins

1 pound of  pasta, spaghetti or fettuccine

1/2 pound of Bespoke Pancetta or other thick cut pancetta

salt

Carbonara Sauce:

3-4  garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 large eggs

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh chopped Italian parsley

Method:

Start by placing 4 quarts of water in a large pot,  and adding at least 2 tablespoons of salt. Start preparing the rest of the meal while bringing the water up to a rolling boil.

Use a large skillet, cast iron preferred, and place the pancetta in and cook on medium.  About a minute before it is crispy and done, toss in the garlic.  Remove the solid contents, then cut pancetta in to 1/2 inch  pieces. Add to a large bowl.

Place the chicken tenderloins in the same skillet with the pancetta grease and cook both sides till cooked through. I always slice the thickest one open and make sure it is all white through and through.  Of course you could always check the internal temperature with an instant read thermometer if you are a modern food safety super hard core 165 degree  Fahrenheit kind of person.

In a small bowl add the eggs and 1/2 to 2/3 a cup of Parmesan cheese. Beat the eggs and mix well.

Fully submerge the pasta in the rolling boiling water and cook via manufacture’s instructions till tender yet firm or “al dente”.

I use a pasta pot with a built in strainer that the pasta cooks in, so in that case I just pull it out of the water give it a shake in to the pasta pot and dump the contents in the large bowl.  If you don’t have a strainer liner, you can grab a small cup to reserve some of the boiling water and put the remainder of the contents though a colander in the sink.  Either way immediately add the pasta to the large bowl with the bacon and garlic.  Then add the cheese / egg mix.

Move the pasta from the pot to the bowl quickly, as you want the pasta to be hot. It’s the pasta heat  that melts the cheese and  emulsifies egg to make that creamy delicious sauce.  If it is too thick you can “water it down”  with the reserved pasta cooking water to thin it out a hair.  Plate the chicken, and add a swirl of pasta with sauce, add Parmesan cheese and fresh ground black pepper. Garnish with Italian Parsley and serve immediately.

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Chicken with Pasta and Carbonara Sauce

Chicken with pasta and Carbonara sauce. Pancetta with garlic, chicken tenderloins, pasta, eggs, Parmesan cheese, pepper and parsely. Simple and Yummy!

Course Main

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

Servings 4 -6 portions

Author Ken at CookingYo.com

Ingredients

• 1- 1 1/2 pounds of chicken tenderloins
• 1 pound of spaghetti or fettuccine
• 1/2 pound of Bespoke Pancetta or other thick cut pancetta
• 3-4 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Fresh chopped Italian parsley
• salt

Instructions

1. Start by placing 4 quarts of water in a large pot, and adding at least 2 tablespoons of salt. Start preparing the rest of the meal while bringing the water up to a rolling boil.
2. Use a large skillet and place the pancetta in it and cook on medium. About a minute before it is crispy and done, toss in the garlic. Remove the solid contents, then cut pancetta in to 1/2 inch pieces. Add to a large bowl.
3. Place the chicken tenderloins in the same skillet with the pancetta grease and cook both sides till cooked through
4. In a small bowl add the eggs and 1/2 to 2/3 a cup of Parmesan cheese. Beat the eggs and mix well.
5. Fully submerge the pasta in the rolling boiling water and cook via manufacture’s instructions till tender yet firm or “al dente”.
6. Reserve some of the boiling water and put the remainder of the contents though a colander in the sink. Immediately add the pasta to the large bowl with the bacon and garlic. Then add the cheese / egg mix.
7. If it is too thick you can “water it down” with the reserved liquid to thin it out.
8. Plate the chicken, and add a swirl of pasta with sauce, top with Parmesan cheese and add fresh ground black pepper. Garnish with Italian Parsley and serve immediately.

Recipe Adapted from:

Simply Recipes – Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Tyler Florence’s – Spaghetti alla Carbonara