Pasta Carbonara – the greatest dish of all time – on National Carbonara Day
Course Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword bacon, carbonara, eggs, italian pasta, pancetta, parmesan cheese, pasta
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Total Time 30 minutesminutes
Servings 2people
Ingredients
Enough pasta for two peoplewhatever is your norm for two cooked according to the package)
One cup of the pasta cooking water
Eight pieces of bacon or eight slices of pancettasliced about ¼ inch thick cut into pieces
Four eggs
Olive oil
Black pepper
One cup fresh peas NOT COOKED – I only use peas in this dish in the spring bc they are available and deliciousall other seasons no peas or any vegetable
Rough chopped fresh parsley
Parmigiano Reggiano cheese – as much as you like
Instructions
In a large sauté pan cook the bacon/pancetta until crisp and rendered most of the fat. While this is frying up, whisk your eggs together in a bowl and set aside.
Remove the bacon/pancetta with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add a little olive oil to the pan and toss in your pasta and coat with all the fat and sauté for about two minutes. Add half of the pasta cooking water to start, and check the consistency. The point of this is to add a little salt to the dish and the starchiness of that water will make a slightly thickened sauce just to glaze the pasta. Sometimes I add the whole cup, sometimes not, you just have to eye it and decide. Really it depends on how starchy your pasta water is. Cook like down for about another two minutes.
Pull the pan off the flame and add the eggs to the pan, while tossing the pasta with a tongs and shaking the dish back and forth. You don’t want to scramble the eggs or over cook them so make sure to have the pan off the flame and to keep constant motion with the pasta. THIS is what will create a luxurious and velvety sauce instead of scrambled eggs clung to pasta. Toss in your cooked bacon, cup of peas black pepper, chopped parsley and as much parm cheese as you like. Plate it up and sprinkle with additional cheese and get ready for the meal of your life.