Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Carbonara OMG

Oh my dear dear heart! How I love thee. Why do I insist on killing you with Spaghetti Carbonara? Why o Why? Because you're just so darn good!


Spaghetti Carbonara

serves 4
Tyler Florence's Tyler's Ultimate

Kosher Salt
8 bacon slices, cut crosswise into strips
1 onion, chopped
4 large eggs
6 TB heavy cream
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 lb spaghetti
fresh cracked black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

SCOTT'S NOTE: Due to the nature of the cooking of this dish, don't eat if you are a child, elderly or pregnant. The eggs are probably not cooked to the desired temperature per Food Police's recommendations. Also stay away if you are on a heart healthy diet! And another note...again, due to the nature of cooking, try to have the best, fresh ingredients you can get your hands on!


Bring a big pot of salted water to a boil for the spaghetti

Heat a 3-count of olive oil in a skillet over medium-heat. Add the bacon and onion and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, until the onion is carmelized and the bacon is crisp. While that's going on, crack the eggs into a big serving bowl. Add the cream and the cheese and whisk. Scrap the bacon and onion into the bowl along with the cooking fat.

By now your pasta water has come to a boil. Throw in the spaghetti and give it a stir to separate the strands; cook for 8 to 9 minutes, until al dente. Scoop out about 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water and add that to the bowl with the bacon and eggs. Then drain the spaghetti, add it to the bowl, and give everything a toss. Invert a plate on top of the bowl to hold in the heat and let the pasta set for 5 minutes. Remove the plate and toss some salt and lots of cracked black pepper and the parsley, and boom: you've got spaghetti carbonara!

ANOTHER NOTE FROM SCOTT: In the future, I will probably cook the bacon first and then cook the onions in the bacon fat. I was worried about not having the bacon cook completely and then having burnt onions. Reserve some of the bacon/onion mixture and sprinkle over the top of the plated spaghetti. When the bacon/onion mix is added early to the eggs, they tend to sink to the bottom of the bowl and don't really incorporate well enough. And the inverting a plate thing...I didn't do it...and it turned out fine.

3 comments:

DC Food Blog said...

i love carbonara as well. SOOOO easy and SOOO yummy

Dancer in DC said...

In the past I had made Rachael Ray's version, and as you can imagine, this one is way better.

Anonymous said...

Throw in some shredded proscuitto as well...so good!