Pasta Carbonara

Such an easy and delicious meal! If you always keep a lb of bacon in the fridge (or freezer), and have a few other staple ingredients on hand, this can be your easy go-to dish!

It's best to use the ingredients at room temperature. Spaghetti is often the pasta most frequently paired with this sauce, but a fettucine or rigatoni would also work.

1 egg and 3 egg yolks, room temp

1/3 cup grated Pecorino romano

1/3 cup grated Parmesean

1 tsp freshly grated black pepper

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 oz (or 1/2 pound) bacon cut into 1" pieces (you could sub in pancetta, which is the traditional way of doing it, but the smoky bacon just hits different)

12 oz (or 3/4 box of pasta)

Salt for the pasta water

Method

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot.

While you wait for the water to boil, begin to fry up the bacon. A large frying pan with no extra fat added works well. Cook the bacon until it's 3/4 of the way done. It'll finish cooking when the pasta's ready. Remove, and drain onto a napkin or paper towel. Discard some of the bacon grease. Leave 2-3 Tbsp in the pan.

Add in the cloves of garlic. They're going to fragrant the oil, so brown them until golden then toss. You could add lots more garlic, or slice it and leave it in as well.

By now the water should be boiling. Add in your pasta, and cook according to box instructions.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, cheese, and black pepper. The pasta's going to go into this, so make sure it's big enough.

When the pasta's ready, drain, but keep 1 cup of the pasta water on the side. Slowly add in a bit of the water to the eggs.

Add the olive oil to the bacon frying, keeping the heat on low. Add in the drained pasta. Mix well. Pour contents of the frying pan into the bowl with the rest of the combined ingredients.

Top with more cheese and black pepper.