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Carbonara Comfort Food

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Here I am. Eating a bowl of carbonara comfort food with a mound of shaved Parmesan

The hiatus last week was due to a little commitment on the calendar. A Silent Auction thingy. You see, public schools here in California have been hit pretty hard by state budget cuts. Fundraising foots the bill for many things schools don’t have anymore.  I call it quasi-public school.  Children who attend school’s where parents subsidize their budget; supplying funding for fine art, music, improvements on campus and increasingly important technology programs, receive a more balanced and progressive education.

A fundraising opportunity arose at my little people’s school and I went for it. It was baptism by fire last Friday. When it was all said and done, I slept 16 hours straight.

When I woke, a huge pot of comfort food was in order: Pasta Carbonara.

My family had been neglected while I was pulling everything together for their school. No home cooked meals from Mama. My middle man was looking on the thin side. He needed something to put meat back on his bones.  A pasta with a little more protein punch than a cream sauce or basic butter was in order. This yolk-heavy recipe is beyond creamy, without cream. For the little people, I added just a light sprinkling of pepper. Otherwise their noses would turn up. For DH and I, the pepper is where the magic happens, along with the yolks, parmesan, bacon….

Here is the pasta worth mastering. Don’t worry, the eggs are cooked from the boiling water and steaming hot pasta. It is delicious.

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5.0 from 3 reviews
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Carbonara Comfort Food
Author: 
Recipe type: Entree
Serves: 4-6
 
Ingredients
  • 10 slices bacon crispy – try pre-made Hormel from Costco
  • 7 large egg yolks
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 pound pasta
  • Kosher salt
  • ½ cup finely grated Parmesan plus more for garnish
  • 1 tsp. freshly coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
  1. Prepare your bacon and set aside to cool.
  2. Add egg yolks and egg to a bowl; whisk to blend.
  3. Chop bacon into 1” pieces
  4. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Just before draining, reserve ½ cup pasta water.
  5. Work quickly and in 3 batches. Add {immediately} ⅓ of the drained pasta to the egg mixture and 2 Tbsp. of boiling hot pasta water. Toss to coat quickly, add Parmesan, stirring and tossing to melt the cheese. Repeat two more times with the remaining pasta and parmesan ONLY. Do not add more pasta water until the end, and only if necessary. Add 1½–2 tsp. coarse black pepper to suit your taste; toss until sauce thickens. Now you can add more pasta water by tablespoonful's if needed.
  6. Divide among bowls. Garnish with bacon and shaved Parmesan. Try using a lemon zester to create light and fluffy Parmesan shavings. Then share with friends.

 

Before my Carbonara is gone, I need to get busy writing thank you notes.

Eleventy million thousand of them,

kathleensignblack_thumb3

Comments

  1. OMG I LOVE carbonara. I made some a few weeks ago for the family and I thought we were all going to die from happiness. And heart disease 🙂 But it was definitely one of those awesome, comforting, delicious kind of meals.

  2. Made it tonight but added some smoked panchetta I had in the fridge and some frozen peas. My kids loved it!

  4. This look amazing. Talk about beautiful pic as well. I would eat at your table at the drop of a hat. delicious!

  5. Ashley it was so good, my little people woofed it down. I sat back and smiled. Mission Accomplished!

  9. Holy yum yum, Batman! That looks amazing! Pinning it now. I think I will make this after I do the ridiculous diet I’m about to try. This will be my “hooray, I’m done!” meal. YUM.