Carbonara is a perfect food. Creamy bacon pasta doesn't need any reimagining. We're not reinventing the wheel here, just highlighting some really good ingredients and offering a couple of quick tips to make sure your sauce turns out precisely the way it should.
The first thing you'll notice is what seems like too little pasta water in your pot. Don't sweat it, grab some tongs and roll your spaghetti around every couple of minutes while it's cooking. Cooking the pasta in less water will concentrate the amount of starch in the water that we add back to our sauce at the end. More starch will yield a creamier final product and help prevent scorching our eggs. Scrambled eggs are the enemy. Shake the skillet and stir like a maniac to make sure the eggs don't overcook on you. The rewards will be great.
Ingredients
| 1 box | Spaghetti |
| 3 whole | Eggs + 2 yolks |
| 1 oz | Parm, grated |
| 1 oz | Pecorino romano, grated |
| 1 tsp | Freshly ground black pepper |
| Splash | EVOO |
| 4 oz | HVMC beef bacon, chopped finely |
| 3 | Ears of corn, kernels cut from cobs (~2 cups) |
| 3 | Garlic cloves |
| A pinch of Salt |
Instructions
- Bring 2-3 quarts of water to a boil in a big pot, season lightly with salt.
- Whisk together eggs, cheese and pepper in a large bowl.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium-low heat and add bacon. Slowly render bacon until it just starts to crisp, 5 minutes or so. Add corn and garlic to bacon and cook until corn is tender- This will depend on your corn, so keep tasting kernels after a couple of minutes in the pan. Kill the heat under the skillet and set aside.
- Cook spaghetti until al dente, stirring regularly. Drain and add to skillet with bacon and corn. Save 1 cup of pasta water.
- Combine half of reserved pasta water and egg mixture while whisking constantly. Pour over spaghetti and stir until sauce thickens and coats the noodles. If the sauce seems a little loose, turn on the lowest heat your stove can muster and stir until it all starts to come together. Adjust the consistency of the sauce with remaining pasta water if necessary.
- Eat this right now.