I decided after a failed attempt at this simple and delightful dish, that I just had to try to make it again. I am so happy with my decision, as this recipe is outstanding. When I first made this recipe, I used a recipe from the food network. It would have been tasty, except for the cheese I used. The recipe called for pecorino romano, and I bought pecorino romano. I learned afterwords that there is a pecorino romano sheeps milk cheese ( the more common pecorino), and a pecorino romano goats milk. I bought the goats milk without reading it. For those that are used to cooking with goats milk, or have to because of allergies it would have been delicious, but both my husband and I are not a fan of the taste or smell of goats milk. Needless to say for dinner that night we ended up eating leftovers :P.
While researching recipes for Spaghetti Carbonara, I came across Pioneer Woman’s recipe. http://thepioneerwoman.com. For those of you who don’t know who the Pioneer Woman is. She has thousands of followers and several cookbooks out there! Check her out! Her recipe looked and is incredibly delicious. I left out the peas, and used prosciutto instead of bacon, because it is what I had in my fridge, and I loved the flavor and crispiness it gave the dish.
Ingredients for this Recipe:
12 oz of pasta (any kind you want- I used spaghetti because thats what I made)
6-8 slices of prosciutto
1/2 one medium yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic
3 eggs
3/4 -1 cup parmesan cheese (any will work- I use pecorino for great flavor)
3/4 heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
Cook pasta according to package or other instructions.
While the pasta is cooking, cook the prosciutto in a sauté pan or skillet. My cast iron skillet gets the most use out of all my pots and pans. I love cooking with, so I used my cast iron, but any skillet or pan works. Cut the prosciutto up into 1-2 inch bits. The prosciutto I had was very thinly sliced, so when I cut it up some of the meat stuck together, and I left it that way. It added a little thickness to some of the bites : ). Cook for 4-5 minutes, until crispy. As soon as they start to brown and crisp, take them off of the skillet on in a bowl to the side.
Mix together the eggs, parmesan, cream. Whisk it together until it is nice and creamy.
Pasta should be done by now, use tongs and remove the noodles from the water and place in a large mixing bowl.Do not strain the noodles or run cold water on them. The starch and texture of the noodles will be incredibly silky this way. Plus this allows you to save the water the noodles were cooked in.
Cook the onions and garlic on the skillet from earlier. With the leftover grease from the prosciutto, it should cook quickly. Cook onions until they start to discolor. They will turn slightly golden brown from the grease. Take off of the heat as soon as they are cooked. I originally added capers to this, but later took them out. I didn’t like the combination, hence them showing in the picture below.
Slowly start adding the egg mixture to the pasta. Tongs are an easy way to toss the noodles in the sauce. Once all of the mixture is added, toss in the prosciutto,onions, and garlic, and pepper. Before you add any salt, give you it a taste. I did not add any more salt. the cheese, cream and prosciutto were perfectly salty for me. If you find the consistency of the sauce is too thick, add a little bit of the leftover pasta water.
Use the tongs to plate the dish, and top with more parmesan cheese.
Dinner is served!
Until my next adventure in the kitchen,
Lisa Annie
XOXO
Leave a Reply