spaghetti carbonara

spaghetti alla carbonara

TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes

MAKES: 4 to 6 servings

Though hearty and delicious, this classic pasta comes together with ingredients almost always on hand.

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Ingredients

Fine sea salt
7 ounces thick-sliced flat pancetta or bacon
3 large egg yolks
1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese plus more for sprinkling
3/4 cup freshly grated Grana Padano or Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound spaghetti

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, cut pancetta into ¼-inch batons. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, grated cheeses, 1/3 cup water, and generous pinch salt and pepper. In a medium nonstick skillet, combine pancetta and oil; cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until browned, about 15 minutes.

About halfway through pancetta cooking time, cook pasta in the boiling water until al dente (ideally pancetta and pasta will be ready at about the same time). Reserving ¼ cup of the pasta cooking liquid, drain pasta and return to pot. Add pancetta and its rendered fat; toss to combine. Immediately add egg mixture and 2 tablespoons pasta cooking liquid; quickly stir to combine. Moisten with additional pasta cooking liquid, if desired. Serve immediately, passing cheese and pepper at the table.

October 2010

keywords:

pasta, salumi, quick, classic

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Comments [4] | Add your comment

No onion? What about the onions? And carful to just let the egg set, otherwise you get like spagetti with scrambled eggs and bacon.

Posted: March 04, 2013 17:53 by neripa
Ah Ha! The secret is the use of just the yolks. All other recopies I've tried use the whole egg, but omitting the whites makes a huge difference.

Posted: January 21, 2012 15:53 by httpmom
We would love to hear about some of your variations!
Posted: February 03, 2011 08:18 by joannesmart
this is incredibly authentic - our go to recipe and has lots of variations
Posted: February 02, 2011 20:13 by Nonny53