Spaghetti Carbonara with Shriimp

Normally on a Friday I would be playing golf, but we woke up this morning to a drizzle and a forecast for heavy rain.  The heavy rain never materialized, but that forecast has been pushed to tonight.  Never the less, no golf today, so I used the day to do the shopping and some early preparation for a dinner party we are having tomorrow night.  Here is the menu for tomorrow night:

Appetizer

Fresh Figs, Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Wrapped with Prosciutto, & Drizzled with Spiced Honey

Salad

Cucumber and Watermelon Salad with Fresh Mint

Main

Grilled Fennel and Sage Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Spinach Gratin

Smashed and Roasted Garlic Red Potatoes

Dessert

Mango Sorbet with Fresh Berries

The pork and spinach gratin have both been featured on Grandpa Cooks in the past.  The other recipes may show up later.  Tomorrow will be a lot less stressful, since I had today to do some prep.  My pork tenderloins have been cleaned and trussed.  The rub has been made and is waiting to be applied about a half hour prior to putting on the grill.  The spinach gratin is made and in the fridge. It just needs to be put in the oven 20 minutes prior to serving.  Tomorrow there won't be much to do and I will be able to focus on our guests.  That is the best way to entertain.  

This is all a long winded way to lead up to what we had for dinner tonight.  Today when I was out shopping I bought a pound of fresh wild caught shrimp.  I thought I would come up with something to have for dinner after I was done with the prep for tomorrow night.  I was thumbing through my recipe collection when I ran across a recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara.  A high school buddy and old team-mate, Jude Rolfes, had sent me his recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara and I thought that sounded really good.  Carbonara is a Roman dish that is generally based on bacon, eggs, cheese and pasta.  The problem was, I had the shrimp I wanted to use while they were fresh.  I decided to modify Jude's recipe and substitute the shrimp for most of the bacon.  The outcome was really tasty and I think quite beautiful.  Thanks Jude !!  Here is what the resulting dish looked like:

Ingredients:

3 Slices Bacon - chopped 

1 Pound Shrimp - peeled and deveined 

Four cloves garlic - minced

12 Ounces thin Spaghetti

4 Large Eggs

1 Cup fined grated Parmesan cheese

6 TBSP butter - melted

1/2 Cup chopped parsley

1 Cup frozen peas

Freshly ground pepper

Preparation:

In a large skillet, over medium heat, cook the bacon until almost crisp.  Add the garlic and saute until the garlic is translucent.  Add the shrimp and cook until just pink on one side.  Turn and cook until pink on the other side.  By this time the bacon should be crisp.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the contents of the skillet to a plate with paper towels and let the shrimp and bacon drain.  

In the meantime, cook the pasta to al dente, per the package directions.  

While the pasta is cooking, crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk until frothy.  Add the grated cheese.  Mix well and then add the parsley and melted butter.  Stir well again.

When the pasta is done drain it and return it to the pot in which you cooked it.   Add the egg mixture to the the pasta and stir well.  Add the peas and the shrimp and bacon mixture and the fresh ground pepper to taste.  Toss and turn out onto a platter.  The warm pasta will cook the egg and cheese mixture.  If you don't want to use shrimp or prefer "original" carbonara, use 16 slices of bacon instead of three and eliminate the shrimp.  Salute !! and Thanks again Jude.