When I first had hard-boiled eggs in spaghetti sauce, I thought it was weird...until I ate it. Then I thought, WOW, this is good!
My Italian in-laws would serve eggs along with meat (the basic hard-boiled egg, peeled, of course, and soaked for a bit in sauce). It probably started as a way of extending the protein content without extending the cost of meat...but it's kind of like a white meatball with a yellow surprise inside. My kids love the eggs, too, so it's an easy way to make spaghetti a bit more substantive.
Then, the other night, I made a huge batch of my sauce from scratch and there was a little bit left over (not enough to freeze) and I had a big plate of leftover bacon that I had already cooked. I thought to myself...eggs....bacon...spaghetti....hmmm...worth a try! I mean, any meat in sauce is usually good. So I quickly reheated the bacon in a pan, added the sauce, cooked up some organic whole wheat pasta, hard-boiled some eggs, and in a few minutes, had it all ready. A few minutes later it was devoured. Almost everyone had seconds. Small tiffs were had over the distribution of the eggs.
In short, it will now be a regular item on our dinner menu.
Bacon and Egg Spaghetti
Ingredients:
1/2 lb bacon
1 jar of tomato sauce
4 to 8 eggs
1 box organic whole wheat pasta (We did a taste test, if you want to know our favorites.)
Romano cheese
Directions:
Boil the water and cook the pasta.
Boil the eggs in water (I always add a dash of vinegar to the water).
Cook the bacon in a LARGE pan and, once cooked, crumble into bits. Pour off most of the grease, but certainly not all.
Add the tomato sauce to the bacon and heat.
Peel the eggs and add to the sauce.
Ideally, you'd put all the cooked pasta right into the pan with the sauce and stir it up and let the pasta absorb the sauce for a minute or two.
Sprinkle with Romano cheese, if you prefer.
Hot peppers would also be good on this!
I think I'm going to go eat the leftovers now...
For more from Maria Rodale, go to www.mariasfarmcountrykitchen.com