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Tuesday 2 August 2011

'Healthy' Creamy Fettuccine Carbonara.

Once a month a dietitian comes in to my Mums work to talk to the clients that come in. And that once a month she also brings in a new recipe to hand out to everyone. More often that not, it is also my Mum and her colleagues that love to pinch a recipe sheet and try it out at home!

On every recipe she types up there is a 'traffic light rating' with a key as to what each colour (green, orange and red) mean.
On the table Green = recipe is appropriate for everyday use. Orange = recipe is appropriate for use sometimes and Red = appropriate for use as a treat or on special occasions.

So anyway, this months recipe is 'Creamy Fettucine Carbonara' and has a traffic light rating of Green/ Orange.
Click the cut for the recipe and more photos.

















 I found the dish to be actually super tasty, even though I was very skeptical about using evaporated milk!
It was pretty easy to cook and took barely any time at all to assemble. The only thing I changed was not steaming the peas beforehand to cut back on cooking and prep time. I found they defrosted and cooked just fine when added to the pasta at the last few minutes of cooking time. I also kept a little bit of extra bacon aside to sprinkle on top when finished!

Serves 4

Ingredients
- 100g lean bacon
- 1 cup light evaporated milk
- 3 eggs
- 350g fettuccine
- 80g grated (1 cup firmly packed) parmesan cheese, plus extra for sprinkling
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup of frozen peas, (steamed)
- 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley leaves
- 8 cups of green salad, to serve

Method
1. Cut bacon into thin strips and cook over a medium heat in a non- stick pan until crisp. Set aside. Combine evaporated milk and eggs in a jug or bowl.

2. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente (cooked but still firm when you bite it). Drain well and return to saucepan. Add milk and egg mixture to pasta and stir over low heat for a few minutes or until sauce thickens. Do not overcook or the sauce will separate.

3. Add parmesan, black pepper, peas and parsley to pasta and stir well to combine. Divide among 4 serving bowls. Sprinkle each with a little extra grated parmesan. Serve with a large green salad.

















My mum picked up some fresh fettuccine to use for the dish.

















Frying up the bacon until crispy.






























Some of the ingredients and the recipe sheet.

















The fettuccine with the egg and milk mixture.

















The finished dish with a sprinkle of extra parmesan and bacon on top!

















Close up of the carbonara.



7 Comments:

adorasbox said...

I love this healthier version of carbonara, Aimee. I use light evaporated milk (and condensed, and skimmed milk powder) a lot in my cooking and I find that I don't miss cream at all. Saves me the guilt of eating it, too.

Aimee@clever muffin said...

I find cream way to heavy in recipes - this is an awesome substitute. I'm going to give this a go.

Anonymous said...

I like the dietitian's way of using the colors as symbols for a meal's relative healthfulness! That's a great idea. (I also love how amazing this recipe looks!)

Anonymous said...

An excellent lightened up version of fettuccine carbonara, thanks so much for sharing this recipe!

Cristina said...

What a great idea to use the evaporated milk. I need to remember to try that more often. It mustve made for a silky, creamy texture.

The traffic light rating sounds like a great system to incorporate. ;)

Have a great week ahead!

Drick said...

wow, this is one of my favorites but the way I make it, so loaded with butter and heavy cream.... love how this is so much better yet still sounds very tasty... oh, and thanks for stopping by

Jessica | Cajunlicious said...

I love your recipe & I can't wait to try this!

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