Spaghetti Carbonara

 I guess I've got pasta on the brain now...  Pasta night AGAIN!  Counter to popular belief, traditional Carbonara is not a thick, creamy pasta dish with peas and ham.  Traditional Carbonara is made with guanciale, eggs and pecorino - and lots of black pepper.  It is not an ooey, gooey dish - don't get me wrong, I love ooey, gooey.  It's just not Carbonara.  The sauce is really just the eggs and the fat from the guanciale.  The eggs are not cooked over the heat - but added to the pasta after the pasta has been drained and added back to the pot.  The eggs (I whisk them first so they are homogeneous) are THEN added RAW to the pasta and the heat of the pasta gently cooks the eggs - so they do not coagulate, but remain liquid.  I'M NOT LYING, THIS IS TRADISH!  Of course I have to make my own modification... I like to add onion after I cook the quanciale (or pancetta or bacon) and fry it in a little of the remaining pork fat.  Onion sauteed in pork fat is so good - I think it goes really well with the breakfast flavors (eggs+bacon+onion = YUM!)  I've actually had it that way in Florence, so I'm not totally off the traditional path there. 

This one goes really fast - by the time your pasta boils, your sauce is ready to rock.  Here's how it goes!

Spaghetti Carbonara
few slices of guanciale
(oh yeah, guanciale is cured pig cheek, it comes in slices and looks like pancetta or bacon)
1 medium onion, diced
1 lb spaghetti (I used Farro pasta - but whole wheat or regular is cool too)
3 eggs whisked (afterward I thought I could have gone for another egg)
1/4 cup of grated pecorino romano
sprinkle of parsley on top (this is not tradish, but I had some in the fridge, so I used it)

Pasta:
Get a big pot of salted boiling water going.  While your pot is heating up - get your guanciale sliced up into narrow strips and get them on to fry in a non-stick pan.
Here's what the guanciale looks like:

I like to render out all of the fat - so I cook it all the way until it is crisp and then scoop it out with a plastic slotted spoon and get it draining on a paper towel-lined plate.  Save a little bit of that pork fat to fry your onion in.  Get your onions sizzling away and season with PLENTY of black pepper - the pepper is key to carbonara.  Once the onions have softened put the guanciale back in the pan and turn the heat down to low.   Now we can focus on the pasta.  Drop in your whole grain or regular spaghetti into your water and cook according to the package - except shave off a minute so when you finish cooking it in the pan it won't be over done.  Once you drop your pasta in the water and set your timer - get your eggs whisked up and ready to go.  The rest is action-packed but easy.  Drain your pasta and put the onion and fat into the big pasta pot over medium heat.  Swirl everything together until the pasta is coated with the onion and guanciale - it will take a minute.  Then pull the pot off the heat and pour in the eggs.  Swirl, swirl, swirl.  You want the eggs to be coating every strand of pasta - and the heat of the pasta will cook the egg - but in a gentle way so that the egg won't coagulate.  I like to swirl and swirl so that the egg has time to cook.  You want it loose but cooked, not slimy - you know?  Then toss in your pecorino for one final mixing of everything and serve in a nice pasta bowl with another dusting of pecorino as a final flourish. 

I had a pretty bunch of parsley sitting in the fridge, which isn't a tradtional garnish - but how could I resist a little sprinkle of green?

ENJOY!