Cousin of Cabonara!

Pasta Carbonara is Matthew’s favorite pasta. After much research this is hopefully my freezer friendly version. The following recipe is largely based on Marcela Hazan’s pasta carbonara, although where she used egg I got a tad creative with cream.

INGREDIENTS:
½ pound of cubed pancetta or slab bacon
1 small onion, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic
3 TBS extra virgin olive oil
¼ dry white wine
2 large eggs (I omitted for a béchamel sauce)
¼ cup freshly grated romano cheese
½ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
freshly ground pepper
2 TBS freshly chopped parsley
1 ¼ pound spaghetti
1 ½ cup half and half
1 TBS butter
1 TBS flour

 DIRECTIONS: Mash the garlic with a fork and sauté in the olive oil in a sauté pan on medium heat while you cook the spaghetti. ( I am giving you the uncooked noodles). Saute until the garlic becomes a deep gold color, then remove and discard from the pan…save the oil in pan. Put the onion and bacon in the pan and cook until onions are golden and the bacon is crisp at the edges. Add the wine and let it bubble for 2 minutes, then turn off the heat and set aside. From this point I altered the recipe as follows but I will include the real directions after in parenthesis. Melt one tablespoon of butter and stir in the flour just long enough to get rid of the flour taste. Slowly whisk in the half and half, and add pepper. Cook stirring until the sauce thickens. At this point I stirred in the chesses and parsley. Once combined I mixed all of the ingredients together with a whisk. Once cool and bagged I placed it in the freezer. (Break the eggs into a serving bowl in which you will toss the pasta. The serving bowl can be warmed in the oven if it is oven proof. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork, add the cheeses, a liberal grinding of pepper and chopped parsley. Mix thoroughly. Add cooked drained pasta to the bowl and toss rapidly, coating the strands well. Briefly reheat the onion and bacon over high heat. Turn out the contents of the pan into the bowl and toss thoroughly once more. Serve immediately.) When ready to eat cut the sauce out of the bag and slowly heat on the stovetop. You will have to whisk it back together as the oil separated a bit from the rest. I also added a bit of the pasta water to thin just a bit. Definitely cook and toss when you are ready to eat it. Hope you enjoy! Jennifer ☺