Carbonara For DINNER!

Lately, because I have been gardening, I've become very conscious about what I've been eating, now that doesn't mean eating healthy by any means. Instead, I've been trying to eat locally, meaning eating food from a Farmer's Market, Made by a friend, such as sausage or bacon, or grown by me in my Garden.

By all means, I'm not saying I only eat local, but it is something that I strive for, I'm just not there yet.

A couple of my friends have been working on making sausages, and recently bacon, it's a hobby currently, but they are working on starting their business, in order to be able to (officially sell their product). I was lucky enough to be able to try this bacon, and it was good. So I convinced them to let me have some (for a small donation).

Dinner time came around, and the thought of pasta came to mind, but what to make?

Here were my options:

• Canned Corn
• Canned Peas
• Cranberry Jam (made by me)
• Grits
• Pasta
• Bacon (made by friends)
• Onions
• Garlic
• Butter (bought at the Green City Market)
• Milk
• Organic Flour
• a can of PBR
• Eggs
• Tortillas
• Chihuahua Cheese
• Cereal
• Peach Vanilla Preserves (from Seedling orchards)

I know, I know, I should keep a better stocked refrigerator...but I'm hardly home, I cook for a living.

Instantly, I began to think..what can I make that everyone will enjoy.. Pasta was gonna be the star but what to accompany it with? There wasn't anything to make a tomato sauce with, which its always a winner if A fallback is necessary. An emulsified garlic and butter sauce would have been to simple and not really appreciated.

That's when it hit me! Carbonara!!

So I grabbed the Bacon rendered it down and reserved it, cooked half an onion small diced it and sliced two cloves of garlic, sweating them down, getting slight color and then adding a touch of flour creating somewhat of a roux . While this was happening, I heated up three cups of milk and added it to the bacon onion mix, and heated it until slightly thickened, and it was the right consistency. Right before serving, I added peas, and tossed it in pasta.

And there you have it!

Make-Shift Carbonara