Pasta Carbonara & Frozen Chocolate Mousse Pie

Finished up 2 new recipes tonight! Our good friend Nancy was over to have supper with us and hang out. Being a lovely evening, we ate on the deck. Call me old and boring, but after the work week I really enjoy low-key Fridays. Why leave when you can eat here, anyway?



PASTA CARBONARA

For supper, I made Pasta Carbonara from my Giada De Laurentiis cookbook (again, yes, she is awesome). Another great recipe where I had everything on hand and it was delish!! :) I added the onions as optional because I felt they would have made the dish perfect!

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
about 1 lb. of pancetta or bacon, diced into pieces
1 onion, optional
1 cup frozen peas
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup heavy cream at room temperature
1 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper
box of fettuccine

Directions
In a large saute pan, heat the oil over medium. Add the pancetta/bacon and onions and saute until golden brown and crispy. Add peas and heat them up. Remove pan from heat.

In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and cream. Stir in 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain, reserve about 1 cup of cooking liquid.

While the pasta is still hot, return it to the pot, and quickly toss with the browned pancetta/bacon. Add the cream mixture and work quickly to toss the pasta so that the mixture will cook but not curdle. Toss with remaining Parmesan cheese and serve. Sprinkle with fresh parsley if you want!



FROZEN CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

This is a Paula Deen recipe - I love that cute southern lady! I really liked this recipe - not a lot of ingredients, and not too hard (just have to be careful folding the chocolate into the whipped cream). I'm glad I like it - I have to make it again because I bought a whole container of chocolate cream liqueur just for this!

Ingredients
2 cups chocolate chips
1 quart + 3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tbs. chocolate cream liqueur
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar
1 pie shell

Directions
Heat the oven to 350. Poke holes in the pie crust with a fork and bake the crust about 11 minutes.

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate chips, 3 tablespoons heavy cream, chocolate liqueur. Once it is melted, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

Combine the sugar and 1 quart cream and whip on high speed until stiff. Gently fold in the chocolate mixture. It may not combine completely, that's ok. Put the mixture into the pie crust.

Cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer for a few hours. Enjoy!!