Pasta Carbonara

This is an interesting choice for me. It's a dish I've had on my to do list for years, but one I've actually never tried. Well, why bother? Could I really make it decent, anyway, having never tried it?

Interestingly enough, that never stopped me before. I love the challenge. But I have a pretty decent reason for never ordering this one: I don't eat pork. I know, the shock and horror must be overwhelming. It's been quite a long time since I ate pork, and bacon won't be the food I swap back for - it would absolutely be BBQ. But alas, since I've no plans to dine on swine in the foreseeable future, ordering a dish famous for bacon just wouldn't work. But that doesn't stop me from trying new things.

The sauce is what interested me most. It's a simple recipe - eggs and parmesan cheese. It's like a protein sauce!
It all started with the turkey bacon. I cooked it in 1/2 cup water, letting the water evaporate. Then, I kept on cooking it until it crisped up. I've never had turkey bacon get quite as crisp as pork, but it got firm.

After the bacon was cooked, I placed some of the grease from the pan into a bowl. I added eggs (and one yolk), salt, pepper, and grated parmesan, then mixed it well. I set aside the bacon to cool a bit.

Concurrently, I boiled some pasta (in my case I used bucatini, but spaghetti or similar will work fine). I When draining the pasta, I set aside a cup of the starchy water, then slowly mixed 1/2 cup into my eggy bowl. Since the water was so hot, I spooned it in slowly so as to avoid scrambling the eggs. After this, I slowly poured the sauce in with the pasta and stirred. I chose to return the pan to low heat and stir this while cooking so I could get the eggs and sauce to a hot enough temperature, but that's optional. 

The sauce thickened up nicely and everything smelled fantastic. My last step was to crumble some of the bacon and toss it with the pasta. Voila, a turkey pasta carbonara.

Being a newbie, I did not know what to expect. And most certainly, this version won't taste identical to the standard bacon version - bacon has a strong flavor.

Who knew this contrast of breakfast foods could be so good?

For a first try, I was happy with the sauce. It doesn't taste like eggs, but rather the combination of eggs and cheese creates a rich, slightly bacon-y flavor. Likely moreso with pork bacon grease, but this was quite good.

And just like that, my carbonara dreams have come true. I love the idea of using ingredients in different ways, and this was just that: breakfast with pasta. Smooth but thick, the sauce coated the noodles and made a unique dinner experience.

Pasta Carbonara Recipe

Ingredients:

10 slices bacon (or turkey bacon)

8 1/2 cups water , divided

4 teaspoons minced garlic, or 4 cloves

1 box spaghetti (16 ounces)

1 1/4 cups finely grated parmesan cheese

3 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Instructions:

Add bacon and 1/2 cup of water to a large skillet and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

Heat to simmer and cook until water evaporates, approximately 5-8 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook bacon until crispy. Set bacon aside to cool, keeping 1 tablespoon of the grease in a medium mixing bowl. Return pan to medium-low heat, then add garlic and sauté for about 1 minute. Boil water for pasta in a large pot. Boil pasta according to package directions to cook until al dente. Add 3 eggs, 1 egg yolk, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper to the mixing bowl with bacon grease. Drain 1 cup pasta water into a separate medium bowl. Slowly add 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the egg mixture, stirring frequently, then slowly mix in to pan with pasta, tossing to coat. Thin with remaining pasta water, if needed. Optional: return to heat on low for 3-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Top with more parmesan an fresh parsley, as desired.

adapted from pasta carbonara