Linguine Alla Carbonara Serves 2 Recipes

Steps:

• Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al dente.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the pancetta and saute for about 3 minutes, until the bacon is crisp and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.
• Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the bacon fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table.

Steps:

• In a large skillet, heat oil and pancetta over medium; cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp and browned around edges, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. In a medium bowl, whisk together egg, yolks, and cream; season lightly with salt and pepper.
• Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water 1 minute less than package instructions. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta water. Add 1 cup pasta water to skillet; bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook, stirring, until reduced slightly, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Slowly add egg mixture to pasta, stirring, until sauce thickens and clings to pasta. Stir in cheese and pancetta; season generously with pepper and serve immediately with more cheese.

Steps:

• Whisk 3/4 cup cheese, eggs and cream in medium bowl to blend; set aside.
• Cook linguine in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Return pasta to same pot.
• Meanwhile, sauté bacon in heavy large skillet over medium heat until crisp. Add onion, garlic and crushed red pepper. Sauté until onion is translucent, about 8 minutes. Add vermouth. Simmer until most of vermouth has evaporated, about 8 minutes.
• Add onion mixture and egg mixture to pasta. Toss over low heat until egg mixture thickens and coats pasta, adding reserved cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls if sauce is too thick, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Transfer pasta to large bowl. Pass remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan separately.

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Cut the bacon into rough cubes and fry in the olive oil until crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Add the white wine and continue to fry for another 8 minutes until the alcohol has cooked off. If the bacon and wine finish before the rest of the meal, cover the pan, and leave the burner on low. In the meantime, boil enough water to cook the pasta. Once boiling, add the salt and pasta, and cook for 8 minutes. In the mean time, add the eggs, grated parmesan, and minced garlic to a bowl and set aside. Note: I like to mince my garlic with a microplane, but if you don't have one of these, chop the garlic very finely, adding a smidge of salt every 30 seconds or so. The salt will work to break the garlic down and turn it into a finer paste. It is important that the garlic be as finely chopped as possible because the only heat to cook it will be from the pasta, which isn't enough to take the sting out of a large chunk. When the pasta has finished cooking, skim off a half cup of the cooking water and reserve. Strain the pasta quickly and return it to the pot; add the reserved water, the bowl of eggs, cheese, and garlic, as well as the winey bacon to the pot and quickly stir. The heat from the reserved water and pasta will cook and meld the flavors. Plate the pasta, shave some extra parmesan on top, add the black pepper to your desired taste, and serve.