Cooking web notes

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Outdoor Cafe Piazza, Rome, Italy

 

Sergio Pitamitz

Last evening, that age old dilemma “What’s for dinner tonight?” floated around in my mind and I was hearing it from Bill also.  Sometimes that can be an annoying question, especially when I’m asking myself and don’t have a clue as to what to cook!  Do you ever have one of those evenings?  You want something different, a comfort food but, not a meat and potatoes meal.  Well, since I am the boss of cooking and the chef of this house, spaghetti alla carbonara came to mind.  Yum!

Spaghetti alla Carbonara is an Italian dish that was created during the time of World War II.  Food was scarce after the liberation of Rome in 1944 and the allied forces came to the aid of the war-torn hungry people by giving bacon and powdered eggs to a restaurant in Rome.  The Romans supplied the pasta and swiftly adapted the ingredients into this fabulous recipe that fed the hungry and also brought a sense of community.  The soldiers savored  the dish, returned home and delivered the recipe for spaghetti alla carbonara to their families and local restaurants.

We love bacon, eggs and cheese.  And, what’s not to like about spaghetti?  It is a perfect dinner and an easy one also.  The Italians probably use pancetta or pork jowl, but pork jowl is hard to come by here.  A fine grade of bacon works very well!  

I hope you try this dish if you have never had it!  Just twirl the spaghetti on your fork, slurp the luscious spaghetti and devour the bacon and sauce!  You will be delighted and glad you did!

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Ingredients:

1 pound thick-sliced bacon, chopped

1 pound spaghetti

4 large eggs

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Method:

In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, cook chopped bacon until crisp, adding the garlic during the last couple of minutes.

Remove bacon mixture, set aside, reserving the bacon drippings.

Cook spaghetti according to package directions.

While the spaghetti is cooking, beat the eggs, pepper and 2 tablespoons cheese together in a bowl.

When spaghetti is al dente, drain well and return to the pot.

Toss with 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings or however much it takes to coat all

of the pasta.

Place the pasta in a warm serving bowl, add the egg mixture, and toss quickly.

Add the reserved bacon and 1 cup grated cheese and toss again.

Serve immediately, passing more cheese and the pepper grinder at the table.

Serves 4

Pam’s note:  it is important that the pasta stay hot so that the heat from the pasta will partially cook the eggs and turn them into a sauce.

It’s one of my favorite authentic Italian dishes!  Yum!!!

E 'deliziosa!!!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 2, 2011 at 7:47 AM and is filed under Bacon, Carbonaras, Entree, Garlic, Italian, Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pasta, Sauces/Marinades, Spaghetti. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response.