Simple Carbonara

Simple Carbonara!! Eggs, noodles, cheese, and pork combine to create a glossy, glorious pasta carbonara! It’s so good! 

There are a few recipes and dishes that I personally think everyone should know how to make. If you watched the movie, A Star is Born, with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, you may have also watched every single interview possible that you could search for on YouTube ..  uh, yes, that is what I did.

In several interviews, Lady Gaga explains how she and Bradley Cooper met for the first time at her house and she cooked him pasta. I would like to think she made him carbonara.

Creamy, flavorful and oh so delicious . . I could seriously eat this every single day.

Some days you simply need some good ole comfort food. For today, comfort food comes in the form of pasta. Pork, cheese, eggs and pasta all come together in a magical way. Rich and comforting and oh so good!

Simple carbonara isn’t actually that simple. I think it does take practice. The first few times I attempted to make it, I cooked the eggs and did not get glossy, glorious pasta carbonara!

Follow the recipe below and let me know how it goes! If Bradley Cooper ever wants to come over to my house, you can bet I’m making him carbonara.

Print Recipe

Simple Carbonara

Course: Main

Servings: 4

Author: Hip Foodie Mom

Ingredients

• 4 oz. guanciale salt-cured pork jowl, pancetta (Italian bacon), or bacon
• 2 oz. Pecorino Romano cheese grated
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 lb. bucatini or spaghetti
• kosher salt

Instructions

• Remove 4 oz. guanciale from packaging and cut into about 1x¼" strips. Finely grate 2 oz. cheese and set aside one-quarter of cheese for later.
• Whisk 5 egg yolks and 1 whole egg in a medium bowl until no streaks remain, then stir in remaining grated cheese. Add several cranks of pepper and set aside.
• Using a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add the guanciale and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp around the edges, about 7 to 10 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat. Fish out the guanciale and transfer to a small bowl. Pour the fat into a heatproof measuring cup, then add back about 3 tablespoons of the pork fat to your pot. Discard any remaining fat.
• Cook 1 lb. pasta in boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, cook to al dente. Just before pasta is finished, scoop out and reserve 1 3/4 cups pasta cooking liquid with same heatproof measuring cup.
• Add 1 cup of the reserved pasta cooking liquid to your pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Drain pasta in a colander, then quickly transfer to Dutch oven.
• Working with your stovetop OFF (no heat): Whisk ¼ cup pasta cooking liquid into reserved egg mixture, then very slowly stream into Dutch oven, stirring constantly using tongs, until cheese is melted and egg is thickened to form a glossy sauce. Season with salt, if needed. Thin sauce with remaining ½ cup pasta cooking liquid if needed, adding a tablespoonful at a time, until it's the consistency of heavy cream (you most likely won’t use all of it). ALTERNATE method: if you find that your ingredients are not hot enough and you are not forming a glossy sauce, mix everything together in a heat safe bowl over a double boiler. BUT work and toss together quickly and be careful not to cook your eggs!
• Mix in guanciale and divide pasta among bowls. Top with pepper and reserved cheese.

adapted from here