of Carbonara and Feeling a Bit Better

Well classes are going. Better than they had been, still not great on all fronts but starting to get the swing of things. I'm not feeling nearly as bad as I had been, though my head is still a little out of whack and I'm exhausted after what is my hardest day of teaching each week. Heather also feels pretty sick. Not my fault.
In either case I decided to be nice today and I made dinner and it is a pretty common one but still awesome every time. Some of you have no doubt had my/heather's carbonara but I figured not everybody has tried making it themselves and while it's a little hard to balance everything all at once the first time, after you do it once its a pretty easy dish.

1T garlic
1t red pepper flakes (don't go heavy on this unless you really like spicy food. I do like some heat and I almost always regret doing a whole teaspoon because it just overpowers everything else.)
2 egg yolks
1/2 c of a dry white wine (tonight I used a cheap pinot grigio)
1/2 c shredded romano cheese
and some salt
Also bacon (the more the better, I think we usually end up cooking 4-5 strips)
around half a box of rigatoni


First cook the bacon until crispy (around 6 minutes) set the bacon aside on some paper towels and drain the grease. I usually start boiling the water right before doing the bacon. If you time it right you can do all this while the pasta cooks.

Add 3 T of olive oil back to the pan you cooked your bacon in and add the garlic and red pepper and saute it for about 30 seconds. I inevitably cook it longer than that because by this point I'm scrambling to do something else. That is fine, just turn down the heat and don't burn it.

Add the bacon and the wine to the pan with the garlic and pepper.

Beat the egg yolks and add some salt. when the pasta is done take about a half cup of the pasta water and whisk it into the eggs to temper them.

At this point if you have a big enough pan you can add the pasta to it or add the bacon and other stuff to the pasta pot (whichever is easier for you). Mix it all up and add the egg to it all.

Last but not least pour in the cheese, mix the whole thing together till it is a gooey awesome mess and enjoy.

 

The random shells are what happens when you don't have enough rigatoni. oops.

You could garnish this with some fresh basil or some other greenery but at this point it is almost dumb to do it. This obviously isn't too healthy so it should be a once in awhile thing and you should just bask in the awesome breakfast/dinner pasta that this is. Truthfully the basil or something might be nice but this is so close to perfect, why mess with it?