Pasta Carbonara With Peas

As you saw from my previous post I made a delicious Italian meringue buttercream, which was awesome but left me with several egg yolks with no purpose.  Although a pasta dish isn’t exactly what I wanted after a meal based completely on cake, I couldn’t let the opportunity to try this classic pasta dish pass me by.  This was definitely different then I expected when making this, but it was delicious and surprisingly simple.  I added peas, which isn’t traditional, but having little bits of green made me feel better about a dish full of bacon and pasta. Try this dish when you have extra egg yolks on hand, or if you just want a really delicious meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 small onion
• 3 tablespoons parsley
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 strips of bacon (or pancetta)
• 1/2 cup frozen (or fresh) peas
• 1/2 dry white wine
• 4 egg yolks
• 3/4 cups shredded Parmesan
• 1/2 cup pasta water
• 1/2 pound spaghetti
• fresh ground pepper

How to:

1. Begin by getting your salted water ready to boil.
2. Chop up your bacon and onion.
3. In a pan begin to heat up the oil and once hot add in the bacon and the onion.
4. Cook for 8 minutes until the bacon starts to brown and the onions start to tender.
5. Then add in your wine and peas, cook until it has begun to reduce.
6. At the same time, in whatever bowl you will be serving the pasta in, add the egg yolks, parsley, and cheese. Whisk together with a fork.
7. Once the bacon and onion has reduced, turn off the heat and let cool for a few minutes.  You don’t want to add it too hot to the eggs or it will cook them, which will make the sauce stringy.
8. Your water has hopefully boiled during this time and your pasta is on it’s way to being perfectly al dente.
9. Right before it is done and ready to be strained, add the bacon mixture to the egg mixture and stir.
10. Once your pasta is ready, strain and transfer right away to the egg/bacon mixture.  Add in the pasta water to help create a creamier sauce.
11. Flavor with fresh pepper and a bit of salt, and of course cheese.
12. Eat quickly since it is only hot because of the pasta.