My Fake Pasta Carbonara Recipes

MY FAKE PASTA CARBONARA

Steps:

• Heat an empty 9 x 12 baking dish or serving dish (I prefer pyrex for this, you can see under it to make sure the ingredients are mixed) in an oven at 250 F.
• Fry the bacon until well done, crumble into a medium to large bowl.
• Reserve the fat for later use if you'd like.
• Either by hand or with a food processor, finely mince the black olives and combine with the bacon.
• In a medium skillet, brown the sausage over medium heat until cooked through.
• Combine with the bacon/olive mixture and set aside.
• Beat the eggs and cream together until well combined but not frothy.
• Meanwhile, boil the fettucini in about 6 quarts of boiling water, 6 minutes for fresh fettucini, about 12 for dried (a little less if you like al dente).
• Drain well.
• Remove the baking dish from the oven.
• The next step sort of has to be done quickly: Dump the pasta into the baking dish and toss immediately with the butter.
• Pour the egg and cream mixture over the pasta and toss to coat, enjoying the sizzling sound you hear.
• Add the sausage/olive/bacon mixture and parsley, and toss to combine.
• Add the parmesan cheese and toss again to combine.
• Serve immediately.
• This pasta keeps well in the fridge for about 3-4 days.
• This is a good thing, because as everyone knows, the thing about Italian food is, you eat it and you're hungry again 20 days later.

SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA: THE TRADITIONAL ITALIAN RECIPE

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add guanciale (see Cook's Note). Cook, turning occasionally, until evenly browned and crispy, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and drain on paper towels.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until tender yet firm to the bite, about 9 minutes. Drain and return to the pot. Let cool, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
• Whisk eggs, half of the Pecorino Romano cheese, and some black pepper in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Pour egg mixture over pasta, stirring quickly, until creamy and slightly cooled. Stir in guanciale. Top with remaining Pecorino Romano cheese and more black pepper.

SPAGHETTI ALLA CARBONARA

Steps:

• Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.
• Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table.