Bacon Spaghetti Carbonara
simple and quick pasta
2 portions
15mWhat I really love about carbonara is the challenge of making it. It's so simple, but there are a bunch of ways to make it, and none of them are really fool proof. If you're not careful with the eggs, they'll scramble before they mix into a nice sauce. This is a variation using bacon instead of pancetta or "guanciale".
What you will need
4 oz (120 g) Bacon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 cup (60 ml) water
2 Eggs
2 oz (60 g) Parmesan
Salt and Pepper to taste
200 g Spaghetti
How to cook
1
You can use bacon, guanciale or pancetta. They all work pretty well for this. I tend to favor pancetta just because the spices are usually more pronounced. But it's often more expensive and harder to find than bacon.
2
Heat some olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Drop in the bacon and stir it around. Cook just until crispy and remove from heat.
3
Grate the parmesan as fine as possible. The finer the cheese is grated, the easier it is to melt the cheese. I used a microplane.
4
In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs with a splash of water and the grated cheese.
5
Season with a pinch of salt and a few turns of pepper. Mix well.
6
Boil spaghetti in salted water. You want the pasta to be slightly undercooked, just on the verge of al dente. The package will have a recommended time range. Shoot for the lower end of the range. Remove the spaghetti using tongs.
7
Stir the spaghetti into the pancetta.
8
Cut the heat and pour in 1/2 cup of pasta water.
9
Stir a little pasta water into the egg mixture. Then, as you stir the spaghetti, pour the egg mixture into the spaghetti. Keep stirring for about a minute. The goal is to very gently cook the egg and melt the cheese.
10
Drop some spaghetti out on a plate and pass it on to your guests.
11
For this recipe, guanciale is better than bacon. But it's harder to find.
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