Spaghetti With Bacon, Eggs and Swiss Chard

This dinner had The Dad's name written all over it.  The recipe came out of the Woman's Day magazine.  It was quick, easy, and made all the family members happy.  Win, win.

Being the anti-egg person that I am, I didn't partake.  The Girl didn't either.  So we just cooked up two for The Dad and The Kid.  Because I didn't have egg goo running down all over my pasta, it needed an extra drizzle of olive oil to moisten it up a bit.  I also added a couple cloves of minced garlic. 

Here's the recipe with my notes:

Spaghetti With Bacon, Eggs and Swiss Chard

12 oz spaghetti (I used whole wheat)
1 bunch Swiss chard, stems discarded and leaves cut into 1-inch strips (I don't know why recipes always call for dumping the stems.  They're so good!  I sauteed mine in the bacon grease.)
8 slices bacon
1 tsp olive oil (or save your bacon grease)
4 large eggs (we used 2)
1/2 C grated Parmesan (2 oz), plus more for serving
Kosher salt and pepper

Cook the pasta according to package directions, adding chard leaves during the last 3 minutes of cooking.  Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, drain the pasta and chard, and return them to the pot.  (I kept 1 cup of the water and used it all.)

Meanwhile, cook the bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp.  Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.  Break into pieces when cool.

Wipe out the skillet and heat the oil (or reserved bacon grease) over medium heat.  (There was way more grease than I would classify as "wipeable".  I dumped all but about a tablespoon into a tin can, to use for the eggs, and cooked up my chard stems and garlic in what was left in the pan before removing them to the drained pasta.)  Crack the eggs into the skillet and cook to desired doneness.

Toss the pasta and chard with the reserved pasta water, Parmesan, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper; fold in the bacon.  Divide among bowls and top with the eggs.  Season the eggs with salt and pepper and sprinkle with additional Parmesan, if desired.

I put all the pasta in a big serving bowl and we dished up at the table, then The Kid and The Dad added their eggs.  We also added some red pepper flakes.  To go with, we had some yummy bread with oil and vinegar.

Here's dinner at my house:

The Dad's plate:

And my, egg-free, plate:

Tasty stuff.