Pasta carbonara (bacon and eggs)
Italy’s sweetheart. And an excellent export product too. On the menu of the Italian restaurants abroad and recently in the home kitchens around the world.
400 gram of pasta –spaghetti preferable
150 grams of bacon
100 grams of grated cheese (pecorino preferable)
1 whole egg, four yolks
Pepper and salt
While boiling pasta in salted water cut the bacon in match-like strips and fry them in a pan. There is no need to use oil or other ointment. Do not over-fry. Use a large bowl to mix the cheese and the eggs into a cream; it takes time so you might want to use a kitchen robot. Add the bacon when it is cooled down.
Drain the pasta, conserving a cup of the water, and add it to the bowl, mix and add the water bit by bit, never stop stirring.
It should be served hot and with some freshly grated cheese on top.
Variations
A popular variation is adding milk or cream to the egg and cheese mix. Since solidification is slower you will have to do the mixing while on the heat. Instead of a bowl, use a pot or the pan the bacon fried in.
Bacon, cheek lard or pancetta, try what best suits your taste. Same goes for parmesan cheese, pecorino local seasoned cheese. Just do not overdo it and keep the ingredients to minimum.
free advice
You will be preparing pasta carbonara for your guests, who probably are not Italian. Do you own thing and dedicate some time to improve your proper version. An important factor to take into account is the salt factor: bacon or pancetta (even guanciale) are salted, as is your cheese. Go easy on adding salt.
