Spaghetti Carbonara

This is a quick pasta dish with lots of flavor. If you are able to get fresh pasta, I would suggest using it. If you have never had Spaghetti Carbonara, try this and I think you will really enjoy this dish. This recipe with make enough to feed about six, so you can always cut the recipe in half or just freeze what is leftover.

Here is what you need to get started

1lb fresh spaghetti if not fresh, any box spaghetti will do
1/2 lb pancetta or 8-12 stripes of thick sliced bacon cut into pieces
4 eggs
2/3 cup of shredded parmesan
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt & pepper
3 cloves minced garlic
2 shallots chopped
10.8oz bag frozen peas
1 tbsp olive oil
Pam cooking spray
1/4 cup white cooking wine
1/2 cup reserved pasta water
Lemon wedges (optional)

Now time to get cooking...

Get water started for pasta, once boiling drop pasta. Cook until al denta. Fresh pasta only takes about 1-2 minutes to cook.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, heavy cream, parmesan, salt and pepper (about 1/4 tsp each).

Spray a little cooking spray in the bottom of the pan. Add pancetta or bacon and cook until crisp, stirring constantly.
Remove from pan and let bacon drain leaving bacon drippings in the pan.

Add olive oil to pan with bacon drippings
Add shallots and garlic, cook for 1-2 minutes add peas and white wine and cook for another minute over medium heat.

Drain pasta and add to pan with shallots,  garlic, peas and white wine. Make sure you are cooking over medium heat.

Add bacon to pan.

Add the egg, heavy cream and parmesan mixture to pan and toss all ingredients together and cook for 2-5 minutes over medium heat.

If sauce becomes too thick, add reserved pasta water to pan 2tbsp at a time. If sauce is too thin, add more heavy cream 2tbsp at a time.

Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Pasta is now ready to be served with a salad and french baguette.

Squeeze lemon wedge over pasta if you prefer. Lemon juice always gives a pasta dish a little something extra....brightens the dish just a little.

*I never salt my water as you can tend to over salt the dish this way.
*Another side note is to never add oil to your pasta water. When you add oil, the sauce will not stick to the pasta and you don't want that.
*Also, before I start cooking any dish, I chop/dice/mince ingredients, so they are ready to use when I need them.