Easy-Peasy Spaghetti Carbonara

Everyone has a favorite, easy, go-to pasta recipe to whip up on those busy weeknights. Usually, I make a quick red sauce with canned tomatoes doctored up by onion, garlic, and fresh basil. But occasionally, if the mood is right, I'll have a taste for Spaghetti Carbonara. Essentially, it's pasta with bacon and eggs. You slightly crisp the bacon, then toss the cooked pasta with beaten eggs and Parmesan cheese -- the heat of the spaghetti will cook the eggs and turn them into a sauce. Sounds amazing, right? And oh yes it really is ...

Spaghetti Carbonara from Ruth Reichl

Ingredients

• 1 lb. spaghetti
• 1/4-1/2 lb. thickly sliced bacon
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 large eggs
• Black pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano cheese

Instructions

1. Cook pasta.

2. While it's cooking, cut the bacon into strips. Put them in a skillet and cook for 2 minutes, until fat begins to render. Add the whole cloves of garlic and cook another 5 minutes, until the edges of the bacon just begin to get crisp.

3. Break the eggs into the bowl you will serve the pasta in, and beat them with a fork. Add some grindings of pepper.

4. Remove the garlic from the bacon pan. Drain cooked pasta and immediately throw it into the beaten eggs. Mix thoroughly. Add the bacon with its fat, toss again, add cheese, and serve.

Image via digipam/Flickr