Chicken Carbonara reviews

[Half_Baked]

This is going to be confusing but initially we tried the Chicken Carbonara just the way the recipe stated. I only made half of the recipe since there's only two of us. It was good but we doctored it up during the dinner.

I did cook the original amount of chicken and I doubled the spaghetti to have on hand for tomorrow (even though I halved the recipe for our dinner, make sense?) . Harold wanted more spaghetti halfway through so I mixed some of the 'saving' spaghetti into the dinner he had left. Then we decided on more cheese so I shredded more parmesan over the altered dinner. And since I was up, I zested a bit more lemon over our plates.

We really enjoyed the dinner before all the changes but enjoyed it more afterwards. I only used 2 eggs and I had everything else piping hot so the eggs did cook with the heat of the food that was stirred in (thanks for that hint). Next time, I'll only toast the walnuts and forget the bread crumbs, or maybe just cut way down on the crumbs.

I had 2 problems making this dinner and they were both my fault. I had my mise en place ready and spilled the cream, twice! What a mess, twice. Then that cast iron pan was so heavy that I had trouble scraping the chicken out of the pan into the egg/cream mix. It nearly broke my wrist and elbow but next time I know to stand on a small stool or have Mr HB do it. Holy cow, that pan weighs a ton. I'm not a little thing, I'm 5'6" and just barely could bring my arm up high enough to get the poultry and bacon into the egg mix bowl.

Even before we played with changes, this was Harold's favorite dinner yet. We both gave it an 8 and will definately make Chicken Carbonara again but I'll probably use another recipe. In fact, I think I will meld this recipe and the recipe from Weeknight Dinners for our perfect Chick Carbonara.

We're still waiting for our '9' which we'll make at least once a month and the '10' that we'll serve when George Clooney, Sean Connery and Tom Selleck come to visit. Harold's list of visitors is a little different than mine but I'm the cook!

[cjs]

Haven't made this as yet, but now that we're on our own (food wise), I'll be making it.

spilled the cream twice?????? Oh Jan.

[Ron]

Sounds like I'm not the only one who thought there were too many bread crumbs. I had some Panko bread crumbs I wanted to use up, so I heated just the walnuts and then threw in the Panko crumbs the last minute just so they would get warm, not over-cooked. After the fact, I also thought that sprinkling some parmesan on the finished product would have added a bit.

[Lorraine]

Well, I had some problems with it also, all my fault. I normally only look after the cooking, but now that I'm also in charge of laundry etc, my cooking is suffering!!

I had everything on hand. Fried the bacon, unfortunately, it was was a double smoked one with the thick rind still on,. When diced and fried, it was almost inedible, so took it out, but still had the flavour. Did my mise, but totally forgot about the walnuts. Then got sidetracked. I threw the chicken into the bread crumb mixture, thinking I had to bread it, and fried it off. ooops. Then I forgot the white wine etc, even though I had a glass at hand.

The pasta itself was good, but I found I added more pepper, and some fresh nutmeg, and more cheese than they called for. I had too many breadcrumbs, so had tossed them in the pan, and put over the pasta /chicken.

I liked the dish, and will do it again. From start to finish was very easy, great for a weeknight meal. I'd give it a 7.5 to 8.0.

[pjcooks]

Made this Sat for baby's (20th) birthday. We really liked this. I think I will cut down on the lemon zest just a bit (even though it all tasted great, the lemon seemed to overrule just a bit). I probably used more than called for. I did end up sprinkling more parm on top.

All in all, a fun dish that the kids ate!

A keeper.

PJ

[Ron]

It has a great beat and it's easy to dance to. Seriously, it seems like a dish that tastes good and is reasonably easy to prepare. Less bread crumbs and more cheese so far seems to be the consensus. Any other trial chefs still out there?

[Lorraine]

Now, you see, I loved the fried bread crumbs. For me, the more the better. After I added the leftovers to the pan, and fried them, I used them all. As for the lemon zest, I added it all and loved it. I did forget the lemon juice though.

Are we the only ones who made it??? Wouldn't it be a hoot to hear what the C@H test kitchen had to say? By that, I mean the actual people who tested it. I've seen their pictures on here, I know who they are! LOL

[pjcooks]

I added more bread crumbs, too, my kids love the crunchy contrast. I'm just happy that I cooked something different that they liked!

PJ