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Cruising with Cyn
Collection of useless information circuitous to the OPERATION: Poisson Rouge Adventure.

This 6 week installment of Cruising with Cyn, we will be exploring local cuisine from the regions we will be visiting. Ken and I will be preparing a traditional meal from Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Florence, Nice and Toulon. We will be posting the receipe and our review.

There are many different stories about how carbonara came into being. The name probably comes from the Italian word carbone, meaning coal, and people have suggested that it could originally have been a coal miner's dish. Another theory suggests that it was favoured by an Italian secret society called the carbonari. Another theory is that it was made with ingredients, ie eggs and pancetta, which could sometimes be purchased from the same people who delivered your coal. Or, it takes its name from the specks of black pepper which resemble coal dust. Although largely accepted as a Roman dish (perhaps created at the end of World War II as a way of using the American troops' bacon and powdered egg rations) the original carbonara recipe has also been claimed as a 19th century Neapolitan creation.

Spaghetti alla carbonara
Ingredients
1/2 lb chopped bacon or pancetta 1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic 1 lb spaghetti, cooked (do not rinse the cooked spaghetti) 4 large eggs, beaten (can use extra large eggs) 1 pinch salt (or to taste) 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese or romano cheese salt & freshly ground black pepper (to taste) 1-2 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley parmesan cheese (to taste)
Instructions
• Whisk the eggs in a bowl with pinch salt; set aside.
• In a large skillet over medium heat cook the bacon until crisp.
• Remove the bacon to paper towels and drain all but about 3 tablespoons fat.
• Add in fresh garlic and saute for about 1 minute.
• Add the bacon back to the skillet along with the cooked pasta; stir/toss for about 1 minute to heat.
• Remove the pan from the heat.
• Add in eggs and mix/whisk vigorously until the eggs thicken but do not scramble.
• Add in the Parmesan cheese.
• Season with salt and black pepper.
• Mound on serving plates then sprinkle a small amount of finely chopped fresh parsley over each bowl.
• Serve with parmesan cheese on the side.
• Serve with a glass of good red wine.

Join us next week when we be making making the Florence classic Beef Tagliata.