Carbonara

I think the first and only time I had carbonara before making it myself recently was when my sister and I went to Italy in the spring of 2015. It was my first time in Europe except for a 5h layover in Amsterdam in 2010. Italy is a beautiful country and it would have been an amazing trip if a chain of bad events didn’t happen throughout the trip. I won’t bore you with the details though and it’s not about food…🤤

Carbonara was one of my favourite dishes in Italy, but I typically like less saucy pasta so it’s difficult to say what swayed me more – that or the fact that the pasta was made in Italy. Since I liked that carbonara so much, I decided to try making it recently. Even though it wasn’t made by an Italian, I thought it was delicious, but it’s not because I’m an amazing cook or anything. It is because who doesn’t love pasta mixed with egg, cheese, and bacon??? And yes, I used bacon in my carbonara because I love bacon. 😁

Recipe

Level: Easy | Time: 30 min | Servings: 2-3

Ingredients

• 3/4 package of long pasta (I used long macaroni; how cool is that?)
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 tsp of black pepper
• Pinch of salt
• Cayenne pepper (to taste)
• 1/3 cup of parmesan cheese
• 3 strips of bacon (or pancetta)
• 1 tsp of butter
• 1 tsp of minced garlic
• Sprinkle of lemon juice

Eggs

1. Whisk the egg and two egg yolks together.
2. Add in the black pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, and parmesan cheese, and set it aside.

Bacon

1. Cut the bacon into bite-sized pieces.
2. Heat a pan to medium heat, melt 1/2 tsp of butter on the pan and add the bacon.
3. Fry the bacon until it is slightly crispy and put it onto a plate.
4. Leave 2 tsp of oil from the bacon in the pan and put it aside.

Pasta

1. Cook 3/4 of a package of long pasta in a pot, according to the instructions on the package, to al dente.
2. Drain the pasta after saving 2 tbsp of the pasta water and put the pasta back into the pot.
3. Add 1/2 tsp of butter and coat the pasta with it. Set it aside.

Final Directions

1. Heat 1 tsp of minced garlic at medium heat in the pan with the bacon oil.
2. When the garlic is slightly brown, put the pasta onto the pan, add the pasta water, and mix.
3. Turn the heat to low and quickly stir the whisked eggs in.
4. Add the bacon and turn off the heat.
5. Sprinkle some lemon juice on top and serve immediately. Yummm…

If you want a good side dish to make with this, check out my Air-Fried Jalapeño Poppers blog post.