Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500g spaghetti
• 200 g bacon, Italian, e.g. Guanciale
• 3 eggs, whole
• 2 egg yolks
• 200 g Pecorino, grated
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 25 minutes

without cream

Cook the spaghetti al dente, or until al dente. Tip: You can also use a different pasta that absorbs the sauce well if you don’t have spaghetti on hand but still want to have carbonara. Dice the bacon finely. While the spaghetti is cooking, whisk the eggs and egg yolks with the pecorino cheese and then season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the bacon until crispy. Turn off the heat. As soon as the spaghetti is ready, drain and add it to the pan with the bacon. The pasta can be dripping wet; this will allow it to combine even better with the egg mixture and create a nice creamy texture. Then immediately fold in the whisked egg and cheese mixture and mix everything together well. Important: The stove must not be too hot when the eggs are added, so they don’t become scrambled. So turn off the heat! Serve immediately in deep plates and grate some more pecorino cheese on top, if you like. Notes: As a rough guideline, I use about 1 egg or egg yolk per 100g of pasta. Depending on the size of the eggs, you might need one more, but I generally prefer a little more than too little. For cheese, this amount is a good guideline, but you can of course vary it according to your taste.