Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Jump to recipe
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
Prep Time
15 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Total Time
35 minutes
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.