Day 2: Pasta and the Versatility of the Rice Cooker

It's no secret: I love carbonara. Every time I visit a restaurant and am not in the mood to be adventurous and try something new, I always fall back on carbonara. Mostly it's because I try my best not to have tomato-based pasta for fear of my acidity acting up. But I've come to love it in all of its many forms (except the ones that use too much milk).

After a few days of subsisting on sandwiches and cereal since I didn't really have enough time to cook something before heading off to work, I found myself with a full day of being at home and juggling work with all the other adult stuff: paying the bills, loading the laundry, and finally, cooking!

For tonight's dinner, I decided to test two things: the first is whether or not it really is possible to cook pasta in the rice cooker. A quick Google search shows that it's possible, but it was only when I spotted a recipe in a YUMMY Cookbook that said "Rice Cooker Pasta Cubano" that I became a believer.

I decided to follow this blog entry since it was the only one I found that had some specifics: how much pasta to put, how much water to add, and it spoke to me in layman's terms! So I crossed my fingers and prayed to the Pasta gods that I was putting enough water and pasta in the rice cooker. And hallelujah, it worked!

Just like cooking rice, I had to watch it for the times that the water would bubble over as it boiled. I also took the blog's advice and opened it a bit to stir occasionally. But unlike cooking rice, the cook switch didn't automatically go off. I knew something was wrong when I smelled something, so I rushed to the rice cooker and found this:

The pasta was starting to stick to the rice cooker's pot and burn! I quickly unplugged the rice cooker, got some water, and mixed it into the pasta. I breathed a sigh of relief as the pasta started to unstick form the pot and I could stir it again. Whew! I left the burnt pasta in, the same way that war veterans are proud of their scars. (Whut?!)

The next thing I decided to test was Del Monte's Heat and Serve Carbonara Sauce. I know nothing beats fresh ingredients and making the white sauce from scratch, but even I know not to bite off more than I can chew. So when I saw this at the grocery, I decided to check it out and see if the recipe on the packet really was as easy as it sounded.

Before anything else, I had to make sure the pan was hot. My mom's tip was to hold my hand over the pan to feel the heat, and maybe even touch it just to check. But I found a better tip online: put some water droplets into the pan then watch to see if it'll boil. I tried it now, and there are the droplets beginning to bubble!

I then added the butter, water, and the pasta sauce into the pan and started stirring. It just said to stir for eight minutes, but didn't really say if I should be watching for anything. Should the consistency change? Should I be smelling anything? Since nothing was really happening despite my stirring, I decided to add the pasta in bit by bit. I mixed it in and went by my gut feel on how the ratio of pasta to sauce should be.

Finally, my favorite part: the cheese! I disregarded the pasta sauce's instructions to put one tablespoon of grated cheese because the cheese lover in me was thinking, "One tablespoon?! WTF??" So I decided to just grate the cheese right into the pot and mix it all in.

I took a cue from Masterchef and decided to taste one noodle. It's edible! I wouldn't say it's fantastic because I do know how carbonara tastes like when the sauce is made from scratch, and you can tell this sauce was pre-made. But for someone who just doesn't have the time (or skill, like myself) to make it from scratch, it's a good alternative.

Of course, it's not carbonara without bacon. The plate on the left is mine, while the one on the right is for M. I haven't quite figured out how to cook soggy bacon; I'm afraid that it'll still be raw!

No plating yet because M isn't home yet, so I've left the pasta in the pot to keep it warm. We'll find out the verdict soon enough!


UPDATE: Success! M and I were both just going for edible (yes, we've both managed our expectations according to my skill level), so we were both pleasantly surprised that it tasted decent. I didn't do so bad at plating either:

There's still a bit of pasta left in the rice cooker, plus uncooked pasta in the container. I wonder what I'll try next!