Recipe: Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

 

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara was one of my favorite dishes to eat while I lived in Rome for a semester. A definite comfort food, this dish is easy to make and packs a lot of flavor. I made this for the family during our trip to Wisconsin and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. The recipe below is slightly adapted from the Food Network's Tyler Florence. 

On a side note, I realize that I have not posted many healthy recipes here... I think it is fair to say that comfort food reigns supreme over here at No Place Lyke Home. My brother-in-law and I joked during Thanksgiving that if we opened a restaurant we would name it, "Sh*t Slathered in Butter". Sounds delish, right? An homage to Paula Deen.

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 ounces pancetta or slab bacon, cubed or sliced into small strips
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 handful fresh parsley, chopped

Directions 

Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta (or bacon) and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.

Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat (very healthy ;)). Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table. 



Buon Appetito!