At five in the afternoon I decided to make spaghetti carbonara for dinner. I had all the ingredients for the sauce (local onions, raw heavy cream, double-smoked bacon, Parmesan), but I needed a box of spaghetti–or any kind of pasta such as a pound of fettuccine, papardelle, etc. I had a box of Market Pantry linguine that I bought in March at Target in the days when we quarantined and items of packaged, canned products were so de rigueur to stock our pantries. No, that would not be good enough to use in this especially rich and luxurious sauce made otherwise with my pantry items in stock.
Since I live on the Hill the closest store was the local Rosemont. Masked, hands sterilized, a wallet of credit cards (no cash accepted) I was admitted entry. I asked where the pasta was and the clerk pointed to the shelves in the back. “Except,” she said, “we only have non gluten.”
“No other pasta?” I nearly barked.
“It’s the pandemic,” she replied. I walked out in a huff.
I went to Washington Avenue to the Cheese Shop. They would have all kinds of precious pastas from Italy. And I decided to get a nice hunk of Parmesan there, too, to grate fresh to use in the recipe instead of the grated cheese that I had in my refrigerator tightly sealed in a plastic container. Big sign on the door: CLOSED SUNDAY TO TUESDAY. I thought for a second, this was Tuesday. ( Note their website says that they’re open on Tuesdays?) Down the Hill on Fox Street to Whole Foods. No line to get in. I dashed over to the pasta aisle to meet a very sparse selection. I picked out a pound box of imported spaghetti for $4.99. Grabbed a small block of Grana Padano ($10.99 ). On my way to my way to check-out (the area is cordoned off like a crime scene), some 30 or 40 people on line were queued up just for the express lane. The store changed the check-out system. There were only three registers open for express checkout while the other lanes for big shoppers were empty, checkers aplenty, standing around looking for shoppers to come to them.
The recipe was from the Tyler Florence book, “Tyler’s Ultimate”
This was ridiculous. I walked out in a second huff of the expedition.
I drove down Franklin Street to turn onto Middle to head towards Micucci’s. Mistake The street is blocked off with barricade concrete boulders to accommodate the outdoor seating at the restaurants there. The line, by the way, to get into Eventide stretched nearly all the way to Commercial St. Who said we don’t have an influx of tourists? I had to go around several streets to pull up. Closed. Gates across the front door. Oh, no, this can’t be I thought. Store closes at 5.
Photo of leftover pasta carbonara reserved in a storage container; heats up beautifully for a few minutes in microwave
Well, I wasn’t far from the Portland Food Co-op and headed there. Walking into that store is like a checkpoint at the border between the old East and West Berlin. I was stopped at the door by a hefty door person expecting a beaver-jawed invective to allow me in. I had my mask on. I sterilized my hands. I was surprised that my temperature wasn’t taken; once granted access I was warned that it was one-way traffic to reach the aisle for pasta. I was directed to go down one aisle to walk up the adjacent aisle to reach the pasta. OK, better safe than sorry.
There they were– a a dark passage of muddy brown whole-wheat pastas. I found one lonely bundle of semolina pasta, picked it up and walked over to where they had the cheese in the circuitous route to the cheese case. Forget about a wedge of Parmesan. Does’t exist in a store that you think still smells heavily of patchouli.
It was nearly 6 o-clock. I chucked the expedition and returned home. I reached up high in the cupboard to get the Target brand of pasta and proceeded with making dinner. The sauce is by default rich and luxurious. If the quality of the pasta product wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t bad either. At least for the blueberry tart that I had prepared earlier as dessert, that went smoothly. I had everything in house.
All this over a box of spaghetti. The times we live in!
Coming soon: Sidewalk dining
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 8 slices smokey bacon, cut crosswise into thin strips
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 large eggs
- 6 tablespoons heavy cream, preferably raw or pasteurized
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan, or more to taste
- 1 pound spaghetti or other pasta
- Cracked black pepper
- Chopped flat-leaf parsley to garnish
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to the boil for the spaghetti.
- Heat a 3-count of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and onion and cook for 7 to 8 minutes or until the onion is caramelized and the bacon is crisp.
- While that's going crack the eggs into a big serving bowl. Add the cream and cheese and whisk until blended.
- Scrape the bacon and onions into the bowl along with the cooking fat.
- By now your pasta water has come to a boil. Throw in the spaghetti and give it a stir to separate the strands; cook for 8 to 9 minutes until al dente. Scoop out a 1/4 cup of pasta water and add that to the bowl with the bacon and eggs.
- Then drain the spaghetti, add it to the bowl and give everything a toss.
- Invert a plate on top of the bowl to hold in the heat and let the pasta set for 5 minutes.
- Remove the plate, toss in some salt and lots of cracked pepper; garnish with parsley and more grated Parmesan if you like.
Notes
Adapted from Tyler Florence book, "The Ultimate."
