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Oops. I accidentally edited my tenderloin post instead of creating new. Fuck.
If you're all primal all the time, skip this post.
Spaghetti Carbonara
This is one of my all time favorite things to make and most definitely my favorite pasta dish. If you have planned cheat days, use a carb cycling approach to eating or just plain don't give a fuck, then this is one to keep in mind. It's super simple and oh-so-delicious.
Essentially, Carbonara is just pasta with bacon, eggs and cheese, so why is it named after a dirty, black element? It's spaghetti as the coal miner's wife would make it... peasant food. Poor Italian women needed to feed their poor, hard working husbands with something hardy, yet affordable, and consisting of readily available ingredients. This stuff is bone sticking fuel for men's men and so it did (does) the trick.
Here goes...
A while before you start everything else, crack 4-5 whole eggs plus an extra yoke into a bowl and set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and heat a large skillet with a coating of olive oil. Cut your bacon (pancetta if you want it to be authentic) into a moderate dice and fry in the olive oil while cooking 12 oz. of dried spaghetti in your pot of water.
While that's going, beat your eggs, add about 1/4 cup of Romano cheese (yes, parmesan will work), salt and a healthy dose of cracked pepper and mix together. As the pasta cooks, grab 1/4 cup of the pasta water and mix into the egg mixture.
When your pasta is done, drain it and transfer to a large bowl. You should have timed your bacon to be done by now, too, which you'll now spoon into the pasta bowl along with a fair portion of the fat. Give it a quick stir, then pour your egg mixture over the concoction and mix furiously with a wooden spoon.
Plate and serve with some extra cheese.
True Carbonara is nothing more than that, but from time to time, I'll add peas to the dish, as well, which you'll notice in the photo. They work nicely with the other components.
Now, there's really only one way to fuck up Carbonara, but it's easy to do if you don't pay attention to the following rules. I already went over them, but they're important, so:
If you don't take these steps, you'll scramble the eggs and the entire dish will move from pasta coated with a beautiful, creamy egg sauce to pasta with... scrambled eggs. I suppose there are worse things in the world, but if you're going to do it, you might as well do it right.
If you're all primal all the time, skip this post.
Spaghetti Carbonara
This is one of my all time favorite things to make and most definitely my favorite pasta dish. If you have planned cheat days, use a carb cycling approach to eating or just plain don't give a fuck, then this is one to keep in mind. It's super simple and oh-so-delicious.
Essentially, Carbonara is just pasta with bacon, eggs and cheese, so why is it named after a dirty, black element? It's spaghetti as the coal miner's wife would make it... peasant food. Poor Italian women needed to feed their poor, hard working husbands with something hardy, yet affordable, and consisting of readily available ingredients. This stuff is bone sticking fuel for men's men and so it did (does) the trick.
Here goes...
A while before you start everything else, crack 4-5 whole eggs plus an extra yoke into a bowl and set aside.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and heat a large skillet with a coating of olive oil. Cut your bacon (pancetta if you want it to be authentic) into a moderate dice and fry in the olive oil while cooking 12 oz. of dried spaghetti in your pot of water.
While that's going, beat your eggs, add about 1/4 cup of Romano cheese (yes, parmesan will work), salt and a healthy dose of cracked pepper and mix together. As the pasta cooks, grab 1/4 cup of the pasta water and mix into the egg mixture.
When your pasta is done, drain it and transfer to a large bowl. You should have timed your bacon to be done by now, too, which you'll now spoon into the pasta bowl along with a fair portion of the fat. Give it a quick stir, then pour your egg mixture over the concoction and mix furiously with a wooden spoon.
Plate and serve with some extra cheese.
True Carbonara is nothing more than that, but from time to time, I'll add peas to the dish, as well, which you'll notice in the photo. They work nicely with the other components.
Now, there's really only one way to fuck up Carbonara, but it's easy to do if you don't pay attention to the following rules. I already went over them, but they're important, so:
- Crack eggs early enough to reach room temperature.
- Use more yoke than whole egg.
- Temper the egg mixture with pasta water.
- Mix like a mother fucker when you add the eggs to the pasta.
If you don't take these steps, you'll scramble the eggs and the entire dish will move from pasta coated with a beautiful, creamy egg sauce to pasta with... scrambled eggs. I suppose there are worse things in the world, but if you're going to do it, you might as well do it right.
