Sauce No. 14 for Pasta...Spaghetti alla Carbonara

This dish is eaten mostly in the south of Italy. In Greece, everybody is talking about Carbonara and you will have it in a different fashion anywhere you go. Some put fresh cream, others put fresh cream and mushrooms, while others put ham slices instead of cubed bacon. It is very simple: only egg yolk, smoked bacon, and parmezan cheese are used.

You will need:

Serves 4
- 100 gms. of spaghetti per person.

- 1 liter of water per 100 gms of spaghetti to boil spaghetti in.

- 300 gms in one piece of good smoked bacon, diced.

- 4 egg yolks beaten very well. One egg yoke per person.

- 200 gms of freshly grated Parmezan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano).

- 2 Tbsp. olive oil (prefer Greek extra virgin Kalamata olive oil).

- Salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.

Method:

- Add and mix half of the freshly grated Parmesan cheese into the well beaten egg yolks, add freshly ground pepper, mix and set aside.

- In the meantime, in a deep sauce pan, fry bacon in some olive oil.

- Boil spaghetti one minute less than prescribed on the box.

- Using a special claw-like spaghetti spoon, take the spaghetti from the water they are boiling in and drop into the fried bacon and mix. Turn off heat.

- Add all the egg yolks/Parmezan mixture into the spaghetti/fried bacon.

- Add 1 ladel of  water the spaghetti boiled in.

- Mix the whole lot vigorously.

- Sprinkle with the rest of the Parmezan and freshly ground pepper.

Serve immediately and Bon Appétit!

Stelio