I remember when I used to work in the restaurant industry, there used to always be a carbonara dish under the pasta section. I knew it had bacon (or a pork of some sort) and it always looked deliciously creamy–which is why I think I avoided it for so long. To my surprise, there is no cream involved at all. Check out this excellent Pasta Carbonara recipe I found on Epicurious this week.
First, you must purchase 1/4 pound of Pancetta. I don’t think I had ever purchased this salty delight before, you can find it at the deli meat section of your grocery store–ask for a chunk at 120 grams.Then chop it. I did thick chunks… just because.
Throw in hot skillet and cook till golden brown & boil water for pasta.
Then add garlic & seasoned salt.
Also low-sodium chicken broth. I hate a black stovetop–you see all the splatter! Oh well what can a girl do?
While that simmers, crack 2 eggs in a bowl and beat thoroughly. Save some hot pasta water and ‘temper’ the eggs by slowly adding the liquid to the eggs (this will help them not to scramble when they hit the pan–yes, this is your sauce!).
Now that the pancetta mixture has been simmering, dump in the cooked pasta and mix together. Now this is the hard part–slowly mix in tempered egg mixture while tossing quickly with tongs to avoid scrambling. It’s MUCH harder than it looks or sounds lol.
Add fresh grated parmesan and stir in until it’s all melty and delicious.
Then you garnish with some parsley–and of course more parm–and voila!
I totally ended up with some scrambled bits but I just left those in the pan. This tasted the BOMB. Highly recommend.
To find the Pasta Carbonara recipe from Epicurious.com click here.
This looks so good!
It’s amazing!!