i am a food blog

I wish I was one of those put-together people who have the foresight to have a fully stocked pantry and fridge. Instead, when I open up my fridge, I’m usually looking at limp, forgotten lettuce and frozen peas. I’m forever heading to the grocery store before cooking. It drives Mike crazy but I’ve never been able to do crazy large grocery runs.

Of course, trips to the grocery store aside, everyone has their staples. One of mine is Chinese sausage. Essentially, it’s the one protein that I almost always have on had (aside from eggs, because I think I would seriously have some major anxiety if I didn’t have eggs in the fridge). Chinese sausage lasts FORever. Seriously, once I bought a package and forgot about it. Six months later I was cleaning out the fridge and there it was, still good to go!

If you haven’t had Chinese sausage, it’s that shriveled looking reddish sausage that you see in vacuum sealed packages in the refrigerated section at Asian grocery stores. It’s a smoked pork sausage, a bit sweet and a lot flavorful. It has a pretty distinct flavor and it’s awesome in fried rice, with noodles or even in a fusion (ugh, I’m not a fan of that word, but there it is) carbonara.

Here, the Chinese sausage basically stands in for the bacon. They have quite a few similarities: salty, porky, fatty. Render out some of that fat and you’ve got yourself a pretty stand in for bacon or pancetta. Salty crisp meat, creamy eggy sauce, and noodles –this is fall time comfort food at it’s best. And, bonus: I didn’t even go to the grocery store.

Chinese Sausage Carbonara Recipe
serves 2

• 2 links of Chinese sausage, chopped
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• freshly ground pepper
• 4 oz spaghetti or long pasta of choice
• 1 green onion, sliced

Start by boiling a pot of salted water.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add the cheese and a liberal grinding of pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Cooking your pasta according to the package. Time it so that everything else is prepared by the time the pasta is cooked.

While the pasta is cooking, fry the chopped sausage in a large sauté pan over medium to medium-high heat until it starts to crisp at the edges.

When the pasta is cooked, drain (being sure to save some pasta water). Add the cooked pasta to the sauté pan and toss to coat each strand in the rendered fat. Pour the pasta and sausage into the bowl with the egg and toss rapidly, coating the strands well. If needed, add a bit of hot reserved pasta water to help melt the cheese and cook the egg. Serve immediately with an extra sprinkle of pepper and the sliced green onions.

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