Spaghetti alla Carbonara

By Howie

Ingredients

• 4 tb soft butter
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup imported parmesan, freshly grated
• 6-8 quarts water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 lb spaghetti, spaghettini or linguine
• 8 slices bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4 inch strips
• 1 tsp dried red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• fresh ground black pepper

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

1) In small bowl, cream the butter by beating it against sides of bowl with wooden spoon until soft and fluffy. In another small bowl, beat the eggs and egg yolks with a fork or whisk until they are well blended, then stir in 1/2 cup grated cheese. Set both aside.

2) Heat a large ovenproof serving bowl or casserole in 200 degree oven. At the same time, bring the salted water to a boil. Drop in spaghetti and stir for a moment or two with wooden spoon. Cook the spaghetti over high heat, stirring occasionally, for 7-12 minutes, or until tender. Meanwhile, fry the pieces of bacon in an 8-10 inch skillet over moderate heat until they are crisp. Pour out about half of the bacon fat and stir into the pan the optional red pepper flakes and then the cream. Bring the cream to a simmer and keep it warm until spaghetti is done.

3) When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it thoroughly in a large colander, lifting the strands with two forks to make certain all the water runs off. Transfer the spaghetti to the heated serving bowl and stir in the creamed butter, tossing and turning the spaghetti with two forks to coat every strand. Then stir in the hot bacon and cream mixture and finally the beaten eggs and cheese, mixing everything together thoroughly. The heat of the pasta and other ingredients should cook the eggs on contact. Taste and season with salt and a few grindings pepper. Serve the carbonara at once with remaining 1/2 cup grated cheese passed at the table.