A salad from my garden

Pictured above is a leafy green salad from my garden; that is, everything pictured was grown in my garden from seed. There is a few leaves of lettuce, spinach, bok choy and kale, as well as a radish, which I sliced. I also included the greens of the radish into the salad. For herbs, I added a few leaves of basil and cilantro. These greens were just what was available in my garden today.

For the dressing, I mixed 1 teaspoon each of rice vinegar, soy sauce and sesame oil.

I added a fried egg, which I sprinkled lightly with sea salt, to make the salad more substantial.

For garnish I sprinkled sesame seeds.

It was a great spring lunch!

Light Carbonara

Carbonara with chicken bacon.

Here is a healthier version of the Italian classic. (This recipe was inspired by Weelicious.)

• 4 to 5 strips of chicken bacon, cut into small pieces
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 small tomatoes*, roughly chopped
• 2 to 3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• cilantro or italian parsley leaves (optional)
• spaghetti, enough for two people (about 250g or 9 ounces)

1. Cook pasta as instructed. Drain pasta well when done.

2. While pasta is cooking, in a large sautee pan, add in oil, garlic and onions. Cook until onions are soft (about 3 minutes) on medium heat.

3. Add in chicken bacon.  Cook for another 5 minutes or until chicken bacon begins to brown.

Onions and chicken bacon sauteing in a pan.

4. In a bowl, add parmesan cheese and eggs. Beat.

5. Right before the pasta is finished cooking, gradually laddle in about 1/3 cup of the boiling pasta water to the egg and cheese mixture. Whisk mixture while adding in water.  (This technique is known as tempering and increases the temperature of the eggs without  scrambling it.)

6. By now the chicken bacon and onions should also be done. Turn off burner but do not remove pan from burner.

7. Add pasta, egg mixture and tomatoes to sautee pan. Mix well. There should be enough residue heat from the burner to warm the pasta and sauce.

Carbonara in a pan.

8. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.

9. Dish out and garnish with cilantro or parsley.

*Other vegetables that go well with carbonara include sliced cremini mushrooms, asparagus, string beans and/or zucchini.