Bacon Spaghetti Carbonara
simple and quick pasta
4 portions
15mWhat I really love about carbonara is the challenge. It's so simple, but there are a bunch of ways to do 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 variation uses bacon instead of the more traditional pancetta or "guanciale".
What you will need
8 oz (240 g) Bacon
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 cup (120 ml) water
4 Eggs
4 oz (120 g) Parmesan
Salt and Pepper to taste
400 g Spaghetti
(Nutritional facts 307 calories, 22.03 g fat, 12.83 g carbohydrates, 15.45 g protein, 424 mg cholesterol, 876 mg sodium)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. I used a microplane.
4
In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs with a splash of water. Add the grated cheese.
5
Season with a pinch of salt and just 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 because the pasta will continue to cook as we assemble the sauce. Remove the spaghetti from the boiling water using tongs.
7
Stir the spaghetti into the pancetta.
8
Cut off the heat and pour in about 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
Twirl some spaghetti out onto a plate and pass it on to your guests.
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