On the Table: Romaine Carbonara

I had a head of romaine lettuce in my refrigerator today that I got at the farmers' market last week, and I figured I needed to use it pretty soon.  If anyone ever wonders how I come up with ideas for weird dishes, here is a brief synopsis of my train of thought regarding the lettuce: Lettuce in refrigerator.  Bacon fat in refrigerator.  Bacon.  Spaghetti carbonara.  Bacon and parsley.  Bacon and lettuce.  Romaine carbonara!  I won't claim it's the best thing I've ever made (everything can't be the best, right?), but it was pretty yummy!  Here is how to make it:

Put a large pot of salted water on to boil.  Prepare half a pound of pasta (I used rotini).

Cut the stem off a head of romaine lettuce and wash (and dry) the leaves really well.  You will want to use the firm leaves from the middle of the head.  Save the outer leaves for something else - salad perhaps?  or lettuce wraps!

Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces.

Put a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add in half a tablespoon of bacon fat (you could use canola oil, if you don't have bacon fat on hand, but bacon fat adds a really unique - bacon-y, in fact - flavor).  When the fat gets hot, add the lettuce to the pan and cook, stirring, for just a minute. 

Add the cooked pasta into the pan and stir well to combine.  Add two eggs to the pan and stir well to combine. 

You want to barely cook the eggs, so you can even take the pan off the heat before you add the eggs - there should be enough residual heat in the pan to cook the eggs.  You can also break the eggs into a bowl before adding them to the pan so you can work faster.  I didn't quite work fast enough (I need a third arm to manage the camera!) and my eggs were sadly a little overcooked :(  (It still tasted good, though!)  Add into the pan a quarter of a cup of grated parmesan cheese and stir well to combine. 

Season to taste.

For the second round, it was delicious with some Slap Ya Mama!

Enjoy!