I chose this dish because I wanted some simple comfort food and this is what I turn to when I want it. Its homemade carbonara and is an egg and cheese-based sauce with pasta. I decided on this because I was looking through my fridge and saw a beautiful container of asiago and thought that it would pair really well with pasta. There isn’t really a story behind this dish, but I have made it before but it didn’t turn out so well because I forgot to take the pan off the heat before adding the eggs and I had pasta and scrambled eggs. As a result, this attempt felt like a redemption to carbonara.

I made a couple of changes to the recipe and I didn’t have a giant effect but you could tell they were there. First off, I substituted guanciale with salami because the cured pork cheek is quite hard to find around here and salami was the only cured meat in the house so I just went with it. Secondly, I didn’t have parmesan so I used Asiago and therefore, the dish lost a fair amount of nuttiness that one would get with parmesan.

This time, my family enjoyed the Carbonara much better than the last time. They said the sauce was very creamy and the pasta was nice and dense. I asked them for some suggestions for next time and here is what they said. My sister wanted more pepper in the pasta, my dad said he preferred bacon as the meat and my mom wished I made the dish warmer before serving it. I could understand how to accommodate the suggestions of my dad and my sister, however, I really couldn’t wrap my head around the solution to make the dish warmer. If I turned the heat make on, the eggs would scramble but if I don’t the pasta temperature lowers a bit.

 

Here is the recipe:

Fresh Pasta

 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup flour

1 whole egg

1 egg yolk

 

PREPARATION

Put the flour on a counter and make a well

Add the eggs inside and start whisking and slowly incorporate the flour into the eggs until a shaggy dough forms.

Knead for 5-6 mins until it’s ready. (bounces back when poked)

Wrap and rest for 30 mins in room temperature

Roll until almost see through and cut as desired

Boil in salted boiling water for about 3 minutes

 

Carbonara

Servings: 2-3

 

INGREDIENTS

1/2 pound spaghetti

3 slices bacon, cut into ¼” cubes (or any other cured meat)

extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

½ tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 large egg, room temperature

2 egg yolks, room temperature

1/4 cup Asiago, freshly grated(Maybe more)

1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano, freshly grated (maybe more)

1 garlic clove, peeled

 

Garnish

Italian parsley, chopped

 

PREPARATION

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Once it is boiling, add the salt, then the pasta and stir. Cook according to the time on the package, minus two minutes.

Heat a large, tall sided frying pan over medium heat. Add extra virgin olive oil and the bacon, and saute until just turning crisp, stirring frequently.

Smash the garlic clove and add to the frying pan with the bacon.

In a bowl or measuring cup, whisk the eggs with the egg yolks. Add the black pepper and half of the Pecorino-Romano, Parmigiano-Reggiano and stir to combine.

Check the pasta for doneness.

Take the frying pan off the heat. Add the pasta and about a 1/3 cup of pasta water to the frying pan with the pancetta.

Add the egg/cheese mixture to the pan and quickly stir and shake the pan to avoid scrambling the eggs. add more pasta cooking water to your desired thickness to the sauce.

Sprinkle over the rest of the cheese and parsley and stir until the cheese is melted. Serve warm!