Eating this for lunch one day, a couple friends asked me what I was having. It’s hard to reply “spaghetti carbonara” and not feel pretentious. So I was downplaying as much as possible and sneaking out the words. BUT IT’S REALLY NOT A COMPLICATED DISH. You could do it. And then you can be non-chalant with your impressed friends. The other reaction people have is, “Oh. What actually is spaghetti carbonara?” Simply a pasta dish based on eggs, cheese, and pepper.
It’s popular to add green peas too. And I, of course, did bacon.
Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves four
1 pound bacon
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 ounces linguine
1 cup frozen peas
1 egg
1 cup grated parmesan
6 green onions, sliced
Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy, stirring occasionally. Do not drain bacon fat when done. Season bacon with pepper.
Prepare pasta according to package instructions. Add peas one minute before cook time is finished. Reserve one cup of pasta water.
Whisk 2 tablespoons pasta water into warm bacon fat.
In a small bowl, whisk egg. Add 2 tablespoons of bacon fat mixture to egg and whisk together. (This warms it up so it won’t scramble when added to pan.)
Add all of egg mixture to pan and stir. Toss with linguine, peas, parmesan, and green onions.
Top with additional parmesan.
- 1 pound bacon
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 8 ounces linguine
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 egg
- 1 cup grated parmesan
- 6 green onions, sliced
- Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy, stirring occasionally. Do not drain bacon fat when done. Season bacon with pepper.
- Prepare pasta according to package instructions. Add peas one minute before cook time is finished. Reserve one cup of pasta water.
- Whisk 2 tablespoons pasta water into warm bacon fat.
- In a small bowl, whisk egg. Add 2 tablespoons of bacon fat mixture to egg and whisk together. (This warms it up so it won't scramble when added to pan.)
- Add all of egg mixture to pan and stir. Toss with linguine, peas, parmesan, and green onions.
- Top with additional parmesan.
Adapted from Six Seasons.