Did you say pasta?!
Yeah! Join in!
Born in Italy, I practically grew up eating pasta. Not only at home but also in an Italian "ristaurante" or "trattoria". Going out for lunch (or diner) can be quit cheap in Italy, so it is normal for people to go to a trattoria and have a pasta, mostly followed by a meat or fish secondo, for lunch.
A really easy pasta is the "carbonara". Unlike most people outside of Italy think, this is NOT made with cream! You only need 5 ingredients for a successful carbonara: eggs, parmigiano, bacon, black pepper and pasta. Traditionally a carbonara is made with spaghetti and you might know the that the Italians are really picky on which pasta goes with which sauce, but I am not, so I make it with penne. Why? Because the thing I love about penne is that they fill themselves with sauce. Mmmmmmm!
Now where does that name come from?
Someone once told me this pasta was a real mineworkers dish because it was so easy to make, you don't really need to know how to cook to prepare this.
Anyway, some of the coal-dust stuck on their clothes, hair and hands fell on their pasta while eating it. This is represented by grounding black pepper on the pasta. Coal in Italian is carbone, hence the name "carbonara".
Pasta Carbonara
Ingredients: 2 servings
- 2 eggs
- 100 gr parmigiano, grated
- 125 gr bacon, diced
- Ground black pepper
- 250gr pasta (any kind you like)
- Some olive oil
- Salt
How to make it:
Start by cooking your water for the pasta. Add somme olive oil and salt. Start boiling your pasta (penne will take about 10minutes). In the meantime take a pan and start frying the bacon. Now take a bowl and mix the eggs with 90% of the parmigiano. When the pasta is "al dente", which means it has a bite, pour away the water. DO NOT pour cold water onto your pasta! Immediately add the egg-parmigiano mix. The sauce will start to thicken because of the heat from the pasta. Add the bacon and give it a good stir so every ingredient mixes really well.
Grind on some black pepper and top with the rest of the parmigiano.
Buon Apetito!
