Peppery Pasta Carbonara

I’m always on the lookout for a simple, quick meal that I can whip up on a weekday night but that still knocks my socks off when I taste it. This simple dish is full of lush flavor from the bacon, butter, cheese, and pepper but it somehow manages to be light at the same time. The poached egg on top? It’s like the icing on the cake. The runny yolk mixes with everything else for the ultimate silky rich texture and flavor punch. And possibly the best part about this recipe? It’s sized for one! It’s so hard to find recipes for one person that it makes me excited when I find one at all, let alone one this good! Read on for the recipe for Peppery Pasta Carbonara.

With a recipe like this, where bacon is pretty much the star, it’s kind of important to use good bacon. Don’t go for the usual cheap mass-produced produce isle bacon or you won’t get nearly as much flavor into the dish. I like to buy uncured bacon or rind-on bacon (this one from FreshDirect is really good) and I always have some in the freezer. Bacon is perhaps the best protein to freeze and keep on hand forever because it is just so easy to cut it while it’s still frozen! Just pull the slab out of the freezer and cut off the amount you need for your dish. I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have bacon in my own freezer and that’s not hyperbole!

Peppery Past Carbonara
Adapted from Epicurious

• 2 bacon slices cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 lb spaghetti
• 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano
• 1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 egg

Cook bacon in a nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Transfer bacon to paper towels to drain.

Meanwhile, cook spaghetti until al dente. Reserve a third of a cup of the cooking water, remote the spaghetti with tongs to a small bowl, and keep pan of water simmering.

Pour off all but 2 teaspoons bacon fat from skillet, then whisk butter into fat in skillet over medium heat. Add spaghetti, reserved cooking water, cheese, and pepper and cook, stirring, until sauce is thickened and almost completely absorbed (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add bacon and toss.

Poach egg and serve pasta with egg on top.

Don’t know how to poach an egg? Check out this awesome step-by-step slideshow from Serious Eats!

Tagged as: bacon, egg, Pasta