Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Description

Here's a simple main dish that anyone can make. This particular recipe was developed for teaching a seriously inexperienced cook.

Ingredients

• 1 slice bacon
• 1/4 yellow onion, diced
• 2 eggs
• 1 "handful" (about 1/3 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 lb spaghetti or linguine
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

• Get a small skillet to fry the bacon.
• Get a small bowl to mix all the ingredients.
• Get a pot to cook the spaghetti, and a colender to drain it.

Directions

• Cut the bacon into small pieces. Saute it in a small skillet. When the bacon is crispy as you like it, remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon and place it in a small mixing bowl.
• Put the onion in the leftover bacon fat with a tablespoon of water and a little olive oil and cook over low heat. When the onion is soft and translucent add it and all the fat to the bowl with the bacon.
• Crack the eggs into the bowl with the bacon and onion and scramble. Add the Parmesan, black pepper and a tiny bit of salt and mix. (Remember that the bacon and the Parmesan are salty ingredients when you are adding the salt.)
• Cook the pasta in abundant boiling salted water until al dente (about 7 minutes).
• When you are ready to drain the pasta, ladle about 1/2 cup of the hot water into the egg mixture and stir.
• Turn off the heat to the pot and drain the pasta. Then put it back into the pot you used to cook it.
• Add the egg-bacon mixture and mix well. Don't worry, the combination of the residual heat of the egg-bacon mixture, the pasta itself, and the pot will cook the eggs just fine.
• Serve immediately and eat!

Source

This recipe comes from my favorite radio show/podcast: KCRW's Good Food. The show's host, Evan Kleiman, conducted an on-air cooking class with the show's producer, Bob Carlson, a seriously inexperienced cook. This reciped was his second lesson, and originally aired on 22 March 2008.