Fast, Low-Cal Spaghetti Carbonara

Uh-oh, the fridge is empty. Well not empty exactly, but you know, not a lot in there for a creative pull-it-together last minute supper. Two apples. Half an onion. A bit of lettuce. Part of a green pepper. Some cheese, eggs, milk. Not a whole heck more, not counting condiments, pickles, etc. Oh wait, some left-over cooked bacon (no really! how did that happen anyway). I think there's some "crappy" pre-grated parmesan. What about a carbonara, suggests SO. Unfortunately there is no cream, half and half or even cream cheese. So I'll try a simple white sauce thickened with flour, with a bit of  butter and milk? Close enough. Hopefully it is edible.

Basic white sauce, looking good.

So the basic sauce went well enough. Usually I either burn something at this point or have lots of lumps that just won't go away. Being thus paranoid, I used a really low heat, and added the flour very slowly to the melted butter. I should credit our awesome gravy/sauce making flat whisk at this point. Something like this. I didn't cook it long enough before slowly adding the milk, so next time I'll watch for that. Next comes the parmesan and bacon.

White sauce with parmesan and bacon. Looking better!

At this point, it is easy to add a little more milk if too thick. Added this to the drained pasta, and voila, quick decent dinner. By the way, I say "low-cal" as a relative term here. Milk and a couple Tb of butter compared to a cup of heavy cream and gosh knows what else. 

The finished dish - Fast, low-cal Spaghetti Carbonara

Next Time: maybe 1% milk if we had it instead of skim; fresh parmesan would definitely help.

Me: 8/10

SO: 7/10

SSO: n/a (as usual, he had most of this in deconstructed fashion: bacon on the side, etc.)

Fast, Low-Cal Spaghetti Carbonara

This was enough for 2 adults, 1 child, and two lunches.

Ingredients

• Around 1/3 to 1/2 a package of Spaghetti (or your judgement). I hate weighing pasta.
• 2-3 Tb butter
• 2 Tb flour
• 1 C Milk
• 3 Tb grated parmesan
• 8 - 12 strips of cooked bacon, chopped
• freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Get the water heating for the pasta
2. Melt the butter over very low heat. Very slowly add the flour a bit at a time, stirring.
3. Keep stirring until there are no lumps, and you deem the flour "cooked". 
4. Add the pasta to the water once boiling with lots of salt.
5. Slowly add the milk, stirring.
6. Once you have a nice consistency, add the cheese stirring until fully melted. Add the bacon.
7. By now the pasta should be done, drain it reserving a bit of the water. Put the pasta back in the pot with a bit of the water. Add the sauce mixture. Add lots of freshly ground pepper.