Guest Post: Chicken Carbonara

I've been itching to play host to a guest post for a while now & when Ray so graciously made me dinner the other night it seemed like a better time than ever to introduce one. Here's what Ray has to say:

"Laura takes good care of me. Faithful readers of this blog will agree based on the relentless deliciousness that rains down like tummy gold every week from this page. However, Grad school has proven to be even more work than I had anticipated, which means long hours and very little time to help with or make dinner like I was able to before. But to keep from getting rusty with my kitchen skills, Laura challenged me to make dinner the other day and I accepted. A lover of all things hearty, I opted to go the pasta with cream sauce route. Taking a trip through the interweb tubes I came across Giada’s recipe for Chicken Carbonara. Designed for a family of 4, I cut the ingredients roughly by half and what followed was deliciousness. Let’s watch."

Learn a little bit more about Ray & his work here.

Chicken Carbonara
1 tsp. olive oil
3 oz. thinly sliced pancetta, chopped
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 1/4 c. whipping cream
1/2 c. freshly grated parmesan
4 large egg yolks
1/3 c. chopped fresh basil leaves
1/3 c. chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
salt
1/2 lb. spaghetti
2 c. coarsely shredded chicken (from 1 roasted chicken)
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c. chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 tbsp. finely grated lemon peel

Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat. Add the pancetta and garlic and saute until it is brown and crisp, about 8 minutes. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, cheese, yolks, basil, and parsley to blend.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the spaghetti and cook until it is just tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Add the chicken to the pan with the pancetta and stir to combine. Next, add the spaghetti and the cream mixture and toss over medium-low heat until the chicken is heated through and the sauce coats the spaghetti thickly, about 4 minutes (do not boil or you might end up scrambling the eggs). Season the pasta, to taste, with pepper and salt if needed (the pancetta will likely add all the salt you need). Transfer the pasta to a large wide serving bowl. Sprinkle the walnuts and lemon zest over, and serve.