Pasta alla Carbonara

Pasta alla carbonara is one of those wonderfully decadent recipes that is an easy dinner during the week or perfect for a special date night! One of my good friends from Sicily recently showed me how to make pasta all carbonara the traditional Italian way which does not have cream, wine or stock (which was a big surprise to me since that's the typical way it is made in the US). Once you try this recipe, you won't even miss the cream! 

Ingredients: 

- 1 package of bacon

- 1 box of pasta (campanelle, farfella, penne, spaghetti, etc)

- 4 fresh eggs

- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

- salt, pepper

Optional: chopped parsley

Recipe: 

1) Bring a pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta to al dente according to the directions (subtract 1-2 minutes from directions).  

2) At the same time that the water is boiling, chop raw bacon into bite size pieces. In a large pan, sauté bacon until golden brown. 

3) Using a slotted spoon, take the bacon off the pan and on to a plate with a towel to drain some of the fat.  At this point, you can turn off the heat and pour some of the rendered bacon fat out of the pan (but I prefer to keep all the bacon fat).  It just adds extra flavor! :)

4) By this point the pasta should be just finished cooking at perfect al dente and the pan with the rendered bacon fat should be off the heat. In the same pan with the rendered bacon fat, add the pasta, bacon and 4 eggs.  Make sure you mix everything as you add the eggs to prevent any scrambled eggs. The heat from the pasta will slightly cook the eggs. Add the parmesan cheese. Top with salt & pepper.

This recipe cooks so fast and is delicious. Seriously. You won't be disappointed! :)