Pasta coated in a creamy sauce and laced with bacon, onion, and parmesan.
Pasta Carbonara
Description
Pasta coated in a creamy sauce and laced with bacon, onion, and parmesan.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Preheat a large pot of generously-salted water to a boil on the stove while doing prep work. Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat, but leave the pot covered.
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While the water is coming to a boil, whisk eggs, milk, parmesan and black pepper in a small bowl until well-blended. Set aside.
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Dice the onion and set aside.
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Start the bacon in a cold pan on medium heat. Flip constantly to avoid burning.
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Bring the pot of water to a full boil and add the spaghetti. Cook according to package instructions until it is al dente.
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When the bacon is crispy, remove it to a paper towel and drain the excess fat, leaving some for the onion.
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Set heat to medium-low and sauté the onion for about five minutes.
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If you're using a stainless steel pan, add about 1/3-1/2 cup pasta water to deglaze your pan.
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When the pasta is ready, drain the pasta water and return the pasta to the hot pot immediately. Pour egg mixture into the pasta, stirring continuously to coat the pasta. You may see a few tiny clumps, but in general, the eggs will just coat the individual pieces almost like a sauce.
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Add in the bacon, add the onion with the deglazing water and toss until mixed. Garnish with extra parmesan and/or chopped fresh parsley. Serve immediately.
Note
Timing is critical for this dish to come out its best. You need for the pasta to finish cooking just as the onions are finishing. Your timing will vary depending on how long it takes your pasta to cook.
When I use gluten-free pasta that takes 10 minutes to cook, this is the timing I use:
20 minutes: Preheat water to boiling and prepare egg mixture. Dice the onion.
18 minutes: Start bacon in cold pan on medium heat. Flip constantly to avoid burning. Bacon should be done in 12-13 minutes
10 minutes: Start pasta. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water.
6 minutes: Transfer bacon to paper towel and drain skillet of most oil, then start onion at on medium-low heat. It should be done in 5 minutes.
1 minute: Turn off the heat on the onion and add 1/2 cup pasta water to deglaze pan.
0 minutes: Drain the pasta, add the egg mixture, add the bacon, add the onion with pasta water.
By the way, I'm one of those people who never salts my pasta water—it's a carryover from when my mother was on a low-sodium diet. Use salt or not as you normally would.
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