Spaghetti alla Carbonara
If you would like some Italian flavor without the red sauce, give this a try. It’s a little like breakfast Italian style with eggs and pancetta (Italian bacon). The legend is that this is a meal coal miners made at work taking eggs and pancetta with them to work. The eggs combined with parmigiano make a nice creamy white sauce that has bolder flavor and at the same time not quite as rich as an alfredo.
Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 oz pancetta or bacon
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 # spaghetti
- 4 large eggs at room temperature and lightly beaten
- 1 1/4 cups grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
- Coarse black pepper
- Italian flat parsley
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Start 4 quarts of well salted water to boiling in a large pot. Cook the spaghetti until it is al dente.Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan, add the pancetta or bacon. Cook on medium until nearly done.
- Add the garlic and cook until you can smell the aroma. Drain the grease, but retain ~1 tablespoon of the grease. Set the pancetta and garlic aside and keep warm.
- While the spaghetti is cooking, blend the eggs with 1 cup o the grated Parm and a generous dusting of ground black pepper, plus the tablespoon of retained bacon grease.
- Drain the spaghetti in a colander, and save 1 cup of the starch water. Add 1/2 cup of the reserved water (more if needed) to the egg/cheese sauce and stir thoroughly to start it cooking.
- Add the spaghetti, reserved bacon and garlic to a pan and stir in the eggs. Toss well for a few minutes over low heat to finish cooking the eggs.
- Transfer to a platter and sprinkle with the remaining cheese and parsley. Serve immediately.