Tonight, my wife decided to whip up an authentic carbonara. This is something we’d cooked together back in the earlier years of our marriage, but the advent of bottled carbonara sauce made it so much easier and simpler. Just open up a bottle of carbonara sauce, pour it over freshly cooked pasta, top with bacon bits, and serve.
The Italians would be horrified.
So tonight, we decided to take the long route–which isn’t really that long, to be honest–and prepare an authentic carbonara for ourselves and our teens. It’s not really that difficult to prepare, if you think about it. If you follow the steps, you shouldn’t have a hard time and will end up with a carbonara that’s hard to beat.
Ingredients
- 250 grams pasta (for this round, we used La Molisana Pastificio Egg Fettucine No. 204)
- 200 grams bacon, chopped into quarter-inch bits)
- Three eggs
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil your pasta according to directions.
- Crack the eggs in a small bowl. Add cheese, then blend well with a whisk.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, fry the bacon. It will render in its own fat, so you needn’t add extra oil.
- Once the bacon is cooked to a light brown–not crispy!–add the pasta into the pan. Toss around until bacon is well distributed. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil.
- Turn off the heat then pour in the egg and cheese mixture. Stir through until the sauce is well distributed and Now for the fun step. Reduce the heat to low, then pour in your egg and cheese mixture and stir through – quickly quickly! Don’t overcook it – you’re looking for a glossy smooth carbonara sauce, not scrambled eggs.
- Transfer pasta into individual bowls and serve. Add salt and pepper to taste.
