Breakfast for Dinner (Spaghetti alla Carbonara)

A third has it created in the Abruzzo Apennine mountains were shepherds would cook it over the fire coals, using (the easier to toss) penne instead of spaghetti.

Whatever the history, one thing is for sure – and this is very very important – REAL Spaghetti alla Carbonara does NOT contain any cream. If you see a cookbook that says to make it with cream, throw it out. It is not the real deal (and probably an American version). Cream is not needed to make this deliciously creamy pasta, the creaminess is created only by the eggs.

If you don’t believe me, a French website, demotivateur.fr, posted (and since removed), a recipe for Carbonara which, besides being awful – who boils the bacon and onion (onion? you have got to be kidding) in with the farfalle (farfalle?!)? or adds crème fraîche? – resulted in twitter outrage #Carbonaragate. One of the national newspaper, La Repubblica tweeted that it was sacrilege as well as printing a full page response. Barilla, realizing their pasta was used in the horrid French recipe, issued a denial.

This dish is fast and simple and the leftovers are great for breakfast. After all, this is just another version of bacon and eggs

Prep time:  5 minutes; Cook time: 15 minutes; Serves: 4

What you need:

• 3 eggs
• 2  + 1 cloves of garlic, minced
• 150 g cubed pancetta (or 8 – 12 slices bacon, diced)
• 1 cup grated Parmeggiano Reggiano, (you can also use 1/2 cup Parmigiano and 1/2 cup grated Pecorino)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 450 g dry spaghetti
• salt, pepper

What you do:

• Beat 3 eggs in a bowl with 1 clove of minced garlic, grated cheese and a large grind of pepper

• Bring water to a boil and cook spaghetti (While spaghetti is cooking:)
• Over medium-high heat, add oil to deep saucepan and cook pancetta (or bacon) until crispy, about 5-8 minutes

• Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and fry

• Add white wine and stir scraping the bits up on the bottom of the pot, cook 2 minutes until wine is reduced

• Take pan off heat
• Remove cooked spaghetti from pot and add to wine, pancetta, garlic, oil mix (reserve pasta water)

• Toss spaghetti in wine, pancetta, garlic, oil mix. Stir well to coat the pasta
• (This is the slightly tricky part and yes, the first time you do this you will be slightly nervous, but it is not that hard, I promise!)

• While stirring. add the egg, garlic, cheese mix to the spaghetti in the pan

• Stir well, you have to do this quickly so the egg doesn’t scramble
• If it gets a little scrambled-egg or gets too thick, add some spaghetti water from your pot

• Serve in bowls immediately (people should be sitting at the table ready to eat, you have to eat this while hot!)

• Garnish with more grated cheese and salt and pepper. Make sure that there is a good grind of pepper on top, it is supposed to look like coal dust!