Dinner in Half an Hour: Spaghetti Carbonara

This one is so easy it’s almost cheating. But I had to put something here so that we didn’t lead the front page with the stupid Internet people anymore. So here we go. This scheme is based on a recipe I have stolen from Marcella Hazan. Buy [her book](http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Classic-Italian- Cooking-Marcella/dp/039458404X/), it’s in there. But I’ve adjusted the flow a bit to make it easier to follow. For me.

First get out 2 six to eight quart pots. Fill the bigger one with water 2/3rds of the way up and put it on high heat to get to a boil. This is the pot that you will use for spaghetti cooking. Set the other pot aside for now.

If you have it chop up some fresh parsley. I don’t always have this.

In a medium sized saute pan, heat up some olive oil while you slice 4 cloves of garlic. Add the garlic to the pan and saute on low heat for five or six minutes. You want to toast but not burn the garlic.

While the garlic is toasting, you have time to cut up the bacon. Gather up six or seven thick slices of bacon. Cut them into thirds and then cut the thirds into thinner strips lengthwise. When the garlic is done, remove just the garlic from the pan and add the bacon to the oil. Cook on medium heat until crispy. Drain off some of the fat, put the bacon back in the pan. Now deglaze with a bit of white wine and reduce for five minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti. You should cook around a half a pound to a pound of pasta, give or take.

While the pasta cooks, crack two eggs into a bowl and beat them. Add salt and pepper to taste. This will not take that long, so when you are done grate about a cup or a bit more of Parmesan cheese.

When the pasta is done drain it out and then immediately mix the cheese with the eggs. Dump everything into your second empty pot (the cold one) and mix it up until the “sauce” is all over the noodles. When that it done, toss in the bacon and parsely and mix some more. Now you can gorge yourself. Oh yeah, if you are nervous about raw eggs, be careful where you buy your eggs. Or you could always wuss out and get pasteurized eggs.

I love two things about this dish.

1. You never actually have to cook the sauce, per se. You just have to mix it together.

2. It’s really a bacon and eggs breakfast on top of pasta, with cheese. How brilliant is that?

Finally, if you are more efficient, you can probably do this with only one pot and the saute pan. But this flow is a bit easier.