1 pound pasta – boil until firm but tender
1 egg
6 slices bacon, cooked and diced
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.

Drain water from pasta when done and return pasta to cooking pot
Stir in the raw egg, cheese, cooked bacon and some bacon drippings from pan.

Serve.

This recipe serves 2-3 the daily fat recommendation for most people is to stay under 65 gms per person. ( Egg 5 gms fat, 6 slices bacon + some drippings ~60 gms, cheese 8 gms Total fat ~ 36->44 gms / serving) ( saturated fat = 6 gms bacon, 2 gms egg, 5 gms for the parmesan for a total of 15 gms for the whole dish, recommended intake per person is less than 20 gms ).

Originally known as coal miner’s spaghetti the carbon from the coal dust gave it a black color, hence carbonara pasta. The name is also claimed by the ‘Carbonara Restaurant’ who claim to have created the recipe.

Unknown before WWII it became a popular favorite until the low fat craze drove it from menus.

This time I used two different goat cheeses for about half the cheese and various cheddars for the rest.  Goat cheese is too dry to use alone, swiss cheese also works well, mozarellas are too stringy.

1 pound macaroni cooked until just barely done.
3 cups grated cheeses
1.5 cups of milk or cream
1 large tablespoon of flour
bread crumbs
1/2 stick of butter

Add the flour to the milk and mix well.

Add the milk mix and cheese to a sauce pan and cook over a very low heat until the cheese is melted stirring occasionally.

Drain the cooked noodles well and put them back into the pot.

Add the melted cheese to the noodles and mix really well.

Put the noodles and cheese in a casserole dish. ( 9″x13″x3″ works well )

Melt the butter and add the bread crumbs, a couple of large heaping spoons of grated Paremsan work well in the topping also.

Sprinkle the butter and bread crumbs over the top of the macaroni.

Bake at 350′ about 30-40 minutes until heated through ( shallow pans will cook faster than taller ones.

I also add cut up leftover ham, and or cut up sundried tomatoes and roasted peppers if I have any left in the fridge.

Macaroni and cheese dishes are listed in Italian cookbooks as early as the mid 1200s.  It has a long history in Massachusetts and in Connecticut as cheese pudding.  You’ll often see it listed in older New England cookbooks as cheese pudding.

Later Thomas Jefferson encountered it in Europe and brought it back to Virginia.

Kraft brought us their Kraft dinner macaroni and cheese in 1937. During WWII mac and cheese became a staple in the US diet.

Flatten chicken thighs with kitchen mallet
Cut cheese into equal pieces, one per thigh
Wrap each piece of chicken around one piece of cheese
Secure with a toothpick
Dip in egg
Roll in bread crumbs to coat
Repeat for all chicken pieces and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes until chicken is white through

Mushroom sauce

6 oz various mushrooms ( crimini, shiitake, portabella, etc )
1/2 stick ( 4 oz) butter
1/4 cup white wine
3/4 cup chicken broth

Fry mushrooms in butter until done
Add wine and broth and boil until liquid is reduced by half
Serve with stuffed chicken

Goat’s cheese is from goat’s milk which is what gives it the tangy flavor.