Pasta Carbonara (Photos)

Good food for the common man gets no easier than this.

For two servings, you'll need - a cup of thick sliced bacon or panchetta(diced), a clove of garlic (minced), pasta for two, a cup of diced ham, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, olive oil, three egg yolks (discard whites), parmesan cheese 1 1/2 cups (grated) and fresh parsley (Tablespoon chopped).





and a cup of white wine



Cook the bacon until crisp, then set aside.

Cook the pasta in salted water with a little olive oil. The water should taste salty. The rest of the carbonara will cook while the pasta is getting al dente.

You will not add any salt to this dish. It needs none because the bacon is salty and you will add some of the pasta water to make the sauce.



Cook the ham in the bacon fat. When ham is done, add garlic and 1 tsp. red pepper flakes, deglaze with the wine and then reduce the wine slightly.



Chop the parsley.



Grate the parmesan. I use a micro plane.



Separate the eggs.. The yolks are all you want.



When the pasta is al dente, whip the yolks and add about a cup of the pasta water to the eggs.



Add the hot liquid slowly to temper the yolks.



Drain the pasta and quickly add to pan. It is important to work with hot ingredients from here on out because the heat is needed to make the sauce.





Add the whipped yolk and pasta water mixture to the hot contents in the saute pan. at this point the culinary miracle of carbonara sauce making begins.



Within a few minutes, as you stir the pasta, the yolks cook and the sauce forms.







When the sauce has formed, add the crispy bacon and black pepper.



Then if you like parmesan as much as I do, you add this much parmesan.




After stirring it in and allowing it to melt slightly, add the parsley




and plate.




Easy to cook and tasty. A nice Sunday evening meal.