Food Adventures #29: Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Kids, a couple of weeks back I found myself with a craving for Spaghetti alla Carbonara and by happy circumstance, we had turkey bacon, parmesan cheese, eggs, spaghetti and thanks to a late Easter present from the Mother-In-Law (in the form of a box full of food that had too much sodium for her Diet) we had peas as well.   The last time I had Carbonara was when I took the Missus to Tucci Bennuchi in the Mall of America on our Labor Day trip up to the Twin Cities- and Tucci added peas to theirs as well as amazing bacon so I thought I'd do the same!

The thing about Carbonara that always worried me a little bit was the eggs.  Technically, they're uncooked.  You whisk 'em up good with the cheese (Tyler Florence's lofty recipe called for freshly grated Parmesan but I cheated, used the Kraft stuff I had in my fridge and ended up with a nice paste that looked a lot like polenta, come to think of it) and you've got to get it mixed with your pasta kind of fast- because you want the heat to cook your eggs but not too much (otherwise, you'll scramble them) and not too little because well, undercooked eggs usually don't end well for people.  In this case, I freakin' nailed it.

I'll have to have a consultation with Mother Cigar about she does her Carbonara but what made this recipe brilliant, I thought was that it tells you to sauteé the bacon and garlic in one pan and then, once the fat has rendered down a bit to throw the spaghetti into that pan so you can coat it with the bacon yumminess before adding your egg and cheese mixture.   The turkey bacon was all the bacon we had in the house but can you imagine the possibilities if you used some real bacon?  Wow. 

There were some logistical issues with this--  I couldn't, for the life of me, get the peas mixed into the rest of the pasta.  Damn things kept wanting to sink to the bottom.  And I kept wondering if you could throw in some red onion or red pepper for added flavoring.  (I've become a big fan of red onions.  Not that I have anything against the yellow or the white variety but I'm finding that red onions have the most complex flavors of the bunch, I think.  Though the Sweet Vidalias are good too.)

My Verdict:  I'd do this again in a heartbeat.  I'd love to try it with real parmesan, real bacon and chuck in some red pepper and red onion too just for kicks.