New Year...New Wife: Valentines Day 2011

Oh My - I can not believe my last post was February 8th! Oops! In all fairness I have good reasons for being so busy lately. (more on that later!)

I've been wanting to post about Valentines Day - so first things first...

One thing unique about Derek and I, is we were engaged 7 months after we met and married after 15 months. Because of that we are still in the process of celebrating some holidays for the 2nd time together - which I find to be very fun. I can safely say the Valentines Day traditions have been officially set, with our 2nd Valentines Day behind us now. There is something about new traditions that feels extra cozy to me!

Our official tradition is simple but sweet... we watch Love Actually and I make Derek a specific dinner menu. I do think this year's dinner turned out even better than last years! Hopefully that tradition will continue too.

Here's the menu:

Spinach Salad with a warm dressing - yum!

Spaghetti Carbonara - YUM!

This is a very special pasta my Uncle Craig made once for me and I immediately fell in love so luckily he taught me how to make it too! It can be a little time consuming - but definitely worth it for a special Valentine - I promise it's worth a try!!

Recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara:

Ingredients:

3/4 pound pancetta
6 finely chopped cloves of garlic
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes (optional)
1 to 1 1/2 cups of chicken broth
ground black pepper
1 box of spaghetti
3/4 cup finely chopped parsley
parmesan cheese (I recommend fresh)
4 egg yolks

Begin by cutting the pancetta into small pieces and then cook it in a deep pan over a medium to medium high flame/heat.

Once the pancetta is nice and browned, quickly add the garlic and pepper flakes. Be careful not to cook the garlic too long so it does not get bitter After a minute or so the garlic will become golden brown. Quickly add a cup or so of chicken broth and a generous amount of black pepper. Turn the heat down to medium / medium low and let the sauce reduce by about 1/2 the volume. (You can always add more broth if things take longer than you anticipate, and keep the volume down to about 1/2 cup. Drop to a simmer.

Have the pasta ready to dump into the pot of boiling salted water when you add the broth to the above so they can finish somewhat together. In the meantime finely chop the parsley and have plenty of parmesan cheese ready. I recommend getting a fresh block of parmesan and grating it. This time I did it this way and I felt like it made a huge difference in taste!

Beat the egg yolks together and then temper in about a ladle full of the boiling water from the pasta pot. (note: you temper by adding a minute amount of the boiling water into the yolks while whisking furiously so as not to cook the yolks and continue until the entire ladle is incorporated)

By now the pasta should be ready. Drain it completely and put it in the pasta bowl and dump the pancetta mix in, continue mixing well as you add the yolk mixture, parsley, and the parmesan cheese.