Spaghetti alla Carbonara

(“Spaghetti con Guanciale”)

 

One of my favorite dishes is spaghetti alla carbonara. This pasta is prepared all over Italy however the Romans claim it as their regional specialty. The carbonara sauce is made with butter or margarine, olive oil, eggs, pecorino Romano cheese, black pepper and bacon or chopped guanciale. Bacon not smoked, in Italian is called guanciale and it is made from the pig’s jowl or cheeks; guanciale or non smoked bacon is mostly used. At times sweet green peas are added for color and taste; chopped parsley is used to garnish.
It is called Carbonara, which means “charcoal men style” perhaps because of the easiness of the preparation that coal miners could get ready it  in a short time, or because of the abundant  quantity of black pepper used, which gave the impression that was dusted with carbone, charcoal.
This dish was first prepared after WWII, when the American Army occupied Italy and American smoked bacon was inexpensive and available in large quantities. It was a way to utilize the bacon and in fact by adding some cheese and a few eggs a new sauce for spaghetti was born. A delicious, satisfying and nutritious dish, full of proteins and starches: in those days nobody was on a diet and cholesterol was an unknown word to most of the people!
To prepare this dish takes little time; make sure to serve it immediately. Complete the dinner with a plain salad, fresh bread, fruits in season, a white dry wine, some Italian cookies and espresso coffee.

 

 

In a 6 quart sauce pot, bring to a boil 4 quarts of water and 1 tablespoons of salt.
If adding peas, boil them and keep warm and ready to add to pasta.

Place the oil and butter or margarine in a skillet, over a medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent and before they get colored add the bacon.

Cook the pasta, following the manufacturer recommendations. At the same time, cook the onion and bacon for a few minutes until the fat melts, and simmer at a very low heat, until ready to use.
In a large serving bowl beat the eggs 3 tablespoons of grated cheese, ½ of the parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain pasta and reserve a cup of the water.

Toss the pasta with the eggs and cheese mixture, add the bacon and onion and mix it well until pasta and sauce are well combined. If it gets too dry, add some of the reserved water. At this point add the optional cooked peas. Divide the spaghetti in 4 dishes and sprinkle each dish with the remaining cheese, garnish with parsley and plenty black pepper.