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Are you looking for a fast, easy and delicious recipe your whole family will love? No, I’m not talking about tacos! My pasta carbonara is easy and delicious for those fast-paced weeknights.
What’s for dinner? Many times, I don’t know the answer to that question. Either I don’t have meat defrosted or I’m missing certain ingredients…then my Pasta Carbonara comes to mind.
Never had it? It’s so good! Carbonara translates to “coal burner“, and is thought to have been created by men working outdoors as an easy, satisfying meal to hold over hunger for longer periods of time. My kids are like coal burners, and any meal that can hold their hunger over for longer periods of time is one I will keep on my rotation!
Over the years I have made carbonara many times, each time with it coming out a little different each time. And yes, I have defiantly scrambled the eggs a few times. It used to seem like such a daunting meal to make- especially worrying about cooking the eggs enough but not scrambling them.
Follow my directions and I promise you will end up with the most delicious pasta- cooked enough and NO scrambled eggs! And the best part…it is easy. I promise!
Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients
- 8 ounces of cubed pancetta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 and 1/2 16 ounce package of your favorite pasta
- 7 egg yolks
- 7 ounces of grated parmiggano romano cheese
- 1.5 cups of reserved pasta water
- Black pepper to taste
Directions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add 2 tablespoons of salt.
- At the same time, cook cubed pancetta over medium in a large sauté pan and heat until crispy. This will take about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. When it is done, turn off the heat. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper.
- In a spouted mixing cup or bowl, combine 7 egg yolks with 7 ounces of parmiggano romano. Your mixture will be thick!
- When water is boiling, add pasta and cook to al dente. Turn off heat and put your sauté pan with the pancetta next to the pot.
- Use tongs to remove the pasta from the water and into the pancetta mixture. It’s ok if your pasta is still retaining some pasta water. This will contribute to the “sauce” we are about to make.
- Turn the heat back on for the sauté pan and using your tongs, coat the pasta with the pancetta mixture. Do this for about 90 seconds.
- Here comes the fun! Turn off the heat and add the egg and cheese mixture. Continually mix pasta with tongs until well coated. Using the reserved pasta water, add a little bit at a time to thin the sauce. Keep adding until you reach your desired consistency. (Remember the pasta will continue to soak up the sauce, so I like to add just a little bit extra past water to make sure I have a good amount of sauce coating the pasta.)
- The heat from the pasta will be enough to cook the eggs without scrambling them. Add pepper to taste and enjoy!