Italian Spaghetti

So for fear of this blog becoming completely overrun by food and recipes, I've been trying to limit the recipe posts. In fact, my rule of thumb has been to only post recipes that I personally make, or at least have a major hand in making, if for no other reason than I'm better able to talk about them than recipes Darrell fixes (as evidenced by the fact that when I try to cook one of "his" recipes I usually end up calling him to figure out what he does or freak out because it doesn't look like it does when he cooks it). And even though this is technically a recipe from one of my friends, Darrell usually does most of the work on it (maybe something to do with the fact that there is bacon in it?). I'm sure this won't be my first exception to the "only post my recipes" rule, but I just have to share this cheesy, bacony, deliciousness (with a side of squash). I give you:

Italian Spaghetti

(and yes, my friend actually brought the recipe back from Italy, so I'm totally justified in calling it Italian)

1 lb spaghetti

1 stick butter

1/2 whole milk (we just use whatever we have--makes it a little bit healthier)

1 cup grated/shredded Parmesan cheese (we use the Kraft grated stuff, but I suppose you could use whatever)

4 eggs

1 package bacon, cooked and chopped (usually easier to cook in the oven or microwave, stovetop is tedious for a whole package!)

chopped garlic and/or parsley

Prepare pasta as directed. While pasta is cooking, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Add the whole milk and turn the heat up to medium. Stir for about five minutes, then slowly add the parmesan (if the milk/butter isn't hot enough the parmesan won't melt--not the end of the world, the sauce will just be a little bit grainier). Add garlic or parsley as desired; stir and keep warm. Whisk the eggs in a small bowl and add them to the sauce mixture just before draining the pasta. Immediately add the sauce to the drained pasta; the hot pasta will cook the eggs. Add the chopped bacon (and any remaining grease if you want to be really fatty!) to the pasta; toss together and serve!

It sounds fairly easy, and individually all the parts are rather easy, but it usually takes the two of us working together about 45 minutes from start to finish--Darrell handles the bacon and pasta while I put together the sauce (I usually make Darrell whisk the eggs too because I fear that if I stop stirring the butter/milk/cheese combo that it will burn. Has it ever happened and justified my fear? No. But burning food (and/or ruining cookware) is one of my BIGGEST kitchen paranoias). 

I know I've said this about some of my other recipes, but you should seriously try this one. It's SO. GOOD. I'm craving it again just by looking at it and talking about it. Maybe it wouldn't be good if you didn't like bacon...but really, you should like bacon. Everyone should like bacon. It's delicious (I'm dying to try a bacon/chocolate recipe, if you know of any good ones let me know!)