Pasta Carbonara Frittata

Tonight's recipe came from the August issue of All You magazine. I just started getting this magazine and it's worth it for the recipes alone.

First off, let me just say that I didn't know what a frittata was when I decided to make this recipe. All I knew is that I liked carbonara. I had to ask my mom about it, which is something I do a lot when cooking. Turns out a frittata is a bit like a quiche, but with no crust. I didn't

see how mixing egg with pasta would be very good, but there was only enough egg to make a layer on the bottom, so it wasn't too weird. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 8oz spaghetti
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4oz turkey bacon
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• Salt
• Pepper

My substitutions:

I used the garlic in a jar instead of actual cloves. I figured it would just be easier.

Directions:

1. Cook spaghetti according to directions. Drain, transfer to a large bowl and toss with olive oil. Let cool to room temperature.

I didn't want to dirty another bowl, so I just drained the pasta and left it in the pot I cooked it in. This might have made it take a little longer to cool, but I try to keep the number of dirty dishes to a minimum.

2. Cook turkey bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat until crishp, 5-8 minutes;drain on paper towels. Discard all but 1 Tbsp of fat in skillet. Preheat broiler to high. Whisk eggs, Parmesan, garlic, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper in a small bowl. Pour over spaghetti and toss to coat. Crumble bacon over spaghetti and mix well.

Why this all got shoved into one step, I have no idea. I think they were trying to make the recipe appear simple by having it show three steps, but I had to keep re-reading this step while I did each thing. As for draining the fat off the bacon, I didn't have enough fat to justify draining any off. I suppose if you'd used regular bacon instead of turkey bacon, that would have been necessary. Since I hadn't put the spaghetti into a seperate bowl, I just dumped it into the skillet and mixed everything in there.

3. Place skillet over medium-low heat; add spaghetti, spreading evenly with a spatula.Cook until bottom is well-browned, about 8 minutes, sliding a spatula under frittata occasionaly to loosen. Place pan under broiler and cook until top is set, about 3 minutes. Cut frittata into wedges and serve.

I had already put my spaghetti back into the skillet at this point, so I was ready to go. I had to check the website to my cookware and found out that it wasn't supposed to be put into the oven at any temperature higher than 350. Because of this, after I'd browned the bottom of the frittata, I transferred it to a 9x13 glass casserole dish to go under the broiler.

And tada! There you have it, my first ever frittata. I served it with some toasted bread, which got pretty brown because I forgot I had the broiler on, but it tasted much better than it looked.

Finished product:

Verdict:

This didn't just blow me away, but it was good enough that I'll make it again. I like pasta, and this would be a nice way to mix it up a little instead of just cracking open a jar of sauce. Also, who doesn't love bacon?