How is everyone’s week going? We were hit with a pretty big snowstorm here, in SLC, and I am loving it! Along with its beauty the fresh powder also has an added bonus of providing me with some gorgeous lighting in the late afternoon. So I wanted to play around with it and thought what better in the winter-time than a creamy carbonara pasta dish. So get ready because this is true comfort food!
I mean, look at those thick noodles?! Remember back in the summer, after my trip to Italy, when I told you guys that white sauce is traditional only paired with thick noodles? Well, this is truly how carbonara is served in Italy, along with the little chunks of prosciutto, and it is officially my favorite pasta dish. I seriously ate this for 2 days this week and I am STILL craving it. So if that’s not a rave review, I don’t know what is. 
Now here is the one tricky thing about carbonara, once you’ve rendered your prosciutto, cooked your noodles, and are about ready to combine the two you have to add in a mixture of eggs and parmesan quickly (while stirring) to the entire dish while over a heat source. Basically you have to keep mixing and pray that you don’t accidentally scramble the eggs (scrambled eggs in what is supposed to be a creamy sauce is a no-no).
After making this a couple of times I realized that there are a few tricks to making sure this doesn’t happen to you! First, make sure to prep all of your ingredients before-hand. That means, having your cooked pasta (along with some reserved pasta water) set aside and ready. As well as combining the egg and parmesan mixture before your noodles and prosciutto are done so that you can work quickly.
Then what I do is turn down the stovetop to a low heat, combine the noodles into the same pot where I rendered the meat then, while continuously stirring with a wooden spoon, slowly add in the egg mixture. If you’re really vigilant i.e making sure to scrape the little corners of the pan and really tossing everything together, in about 5 minutes you should be good to go!
- ½ a package of extra thick spaghetti noodles
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tbs olive oil
- 3-4 pieces prosciutto, cubed (I used a salted parmesan variety)
- ½ cup parmesan (grated)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbs parsley
- salt and pepper
- In a large pot, bring water to a boil (should be enough water to almost cover your pasta when completely dry)
- Add about 1 tbs. of salt to the water.
- Once boiling, add in the pasta and cook according to package instructions.
- In the meantime, add the cubed prosciutto to a medium-sized pan and begin to render the meat over a medium-low temp.
- Add in the olive oil and garlic and cook for about 1 minute, or until the garlic becomes fragrant.
- Once the pasta is done, reserve about ½ cup of the cooking liquid then drain the pasta and set aside.
- In a small bowl, combine the eggs and parmesan and mix together until combined. Set aside.
- Add the noodles to the pot with the prosciutto and garlic and turn the temp down to low.
- With a wooden spoon, slowly add-in the egg mixture while continuously stirring (do this for about 3 minutes) and once the mixture has thickened, remove from the stovetop.
- Top with fresh parsley and grated parmesan and serve!
