Chicken and Bacon Carbonara with Spinach Salad

Chicken and Bacon Carbonara with Spinach Salad

Ready in 30 minutes Serves 1
This dish most recently appeared in My Classic (5 Meals For 1) on Sunday, October 8, 2017.

Chicken and bacon are a match made in heaven. Remember to reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water - the salty, starchy water not only adds flavour, but helps the pasta and sauce stick together.


Ingredients

Chicken and Bacon Carbonara

  • ¼ brown onion, finely diced
  • 100-150g chicken and bacon French grind
  • 1 clove garlic, finely diced
  • ½ punnet white button mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 80g fresh spaghetti
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
  • 3 tablespoons sour cream
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Spinach Avocado Salad

  • 1 handful baby spinach leaves
  • 1 orange
  • ¼ avocado (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

To Serve

  • 1-2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Steps

  1. Bring a medium pot of salted water to the boil. Heat a drizzle of oil in a medium fry-pan on high heat. Cook onion for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Add chicken and bacon French grind, garlic and mushrooms, and cook a further 3-4 minutes, until starting to caramelise. Break mince up with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
  2. While mixture is cooking, shake spaghetti to separate strands and cook in pot of boiling water for 2-3 minutes, until just tender. Reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water then drain. Return to pot with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent sticking. Set aside.
  3. While spaghetti cooks, roughly chop spinach; peel and segment orange; dice avocado 2cm. Toss all in a medium bowl with vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, first measure of Parmesan cheese, sour cream and salt. Set aside.
  4. Add cooked pasta to pan with chicken and bacon mixture and toss to combine. Let pasta heat through for about 1 minute. Add egg/sour cream mixture and reserved pasta water to pan.
  5. Toss to combine for about 1 minute, until heated through. Season with salt and pepper.
  6. To serve, spoon chicken and bacon carbonara into a bowl, sprinkle with extra Parmesan cheese (if using) and serve spinach salad on the side.

Nutritional Information

Energy 3146 kj
752 kcal
Protein 43.9g
Carbohydrate 59.5g
Fat 29.2g