Penne Carbanara

I love this recipe.  Anytime I don't have meat defrosted and don't feel like defrosting it I find this a pretty quick, easy go to recipe for dinner.  It is one of my husband's favorites.  Anything that has bacon, cream and cheese, how can you go wrong!

If you have chicken or even a store bought rotisserie chicken shredded with it is great.  Of course, the Southern Girl in me always renders the bacon and uses the bacon fat to cook my chicken breasts in, if I'm using chicken that night.  

I will say with this recipe, once you are at the stage where the wine, butter, cream and cheese are all combined the sauce will look a bit funny, like it isn't coming together well.  Don't worry, once you add the yolks at the end it'll come together.

Penne Carbanara

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 slices of bacon, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ stick butter

1/3 c. white wine

2/3 c. half and half

½ c. freshly grated Parmesan

2 large egg yolks

1/8 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves

Salt & Pepper                     

1 pound penne (or any noodle really)

* (optional) shredded or sliced chicken

 Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium heat. Add the bacon and saute until it is brown and crisp, about 8 minutes, then add butter and garlic.  Add white wine, bring to boil for about 5 minutes.  Add cream and bring to low boil.  Add the parsley and cheese. Add the chicken to the pan with the bacon and stir to combine. Next, add the cooked penne and toss over medium-low heat until the chicken is heated through and the sauce coats the penne thickly, add whisked egg yolks (turn heat off at this point, you don't want to scramble the yolks just heat them through, and make sure to mix in the yolks quickly).