Carbonara, American Version
Today we are going to make a Carbonara, American Version. It was named for the charcoal that it was first cooked over. Let’s start today’s recipe.
Carbonara, American Version
It is an Italian pasta dish made with eggs, pecorino romano, guanciale and black pepper. It was created in the middle of the 20th century. It was named for the charcoal that it was first cooked over.
- 3-4 quarts Boiling salted water
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 4 slices smoked bacon (diced)
- 1 medium onion (chopped)
- 1½ tbsp red pepper (crushed)
- 12-16 ounce tomato sauce
- 2-4 ounces Parmessan Cheese (Freshly grated)
Boil spaghetti 6 minutes or so, just al dente, drain.
As water is put on to boil, start heating olive oil in medium saucepan, and sauté bacon until fat is just clear.
Add onion and sauté until soft.
Add crushed red pepper and cook 2-3 minutes more.
Add tomato sauce and heat through.
Remove from heat, add Parmesan cheese, and serve immediately over spaghetti.
May garnish with additional Parmesan cheese.
- As this is for cooking, virgin or extra virgin olive oil is not necessary, any grade, even “pure” olive oil is sufficient.
- “Al dente” means “to the tooth.” The pasta should be firm in the center when bitten.
- The amount of crushed red peppers is widely variable to suit your taste.
- As we sat down to eat, one of my fellow troops reached behind him and got some bread from the counter, Dottore Schirra frowned and said, “You would eat bread with bread?”
