Spaghetti alla carbonara

When I was in Venice over the summer (in these awful days of winter it feels pretty good to say "when I was in Venice"), on every restaurants menu was spaghetti carbonara. At the time I had never even heard of the dish, and wondered what it was, especially when every description of it was eggs, cream, bacon and parmigiano. The description certainly had my interest peaked, since anything that has bacon in it has to be good. It was hard to not order one of the pasta dishes that had seafood, since I was in Venice, but I knew I had to see what this carbonara was so I could possibly cook it when I got back to reality. Well I am so happy that I took a break from the seafood because the spaghetti alla carbonara blew me away, so creamy and flavorful, I was thinking how do I call myself Italian and not know this dish. More importantly I knew I would be able to recreate it at home. However, the first time I tried to make it was an absolute disaster. I'm not going to ellaborate because it was one of the worst things I've ever made, it was bad. It was nothing like what I tasted on the edge of the Grand Canal, I was very disappointed. So I put it on the back burner, kind of afraid to try it again, but every once and a while by brother would tell me to cook it again. Of course I caved in to his request, but this time I studied many a recipe, and it was alright, but not quite there yet, however it did make me want to make it again. I think I have it now, and it was pretty damn good, if I do say so myself, it almost transported me back to Venice. Give it a try and picture yourself at one of the many restaurants on the Grand Canal, enjoy.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

2-4 servings

1 pound of spaghetti

4 eggs plus the yoke of another

1 sweet onion, sliced thinly

3 cloves garlic, minced

8-10 slices of bacon

1/3 c heavy cream

1/3 c parmesan

Chop the onions thinly, coat a frying pan with a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil and on medium low heat slowly caramelize. The longer you go the sweeter and deeper the flavor, cook them for at least 20 minutes (I've cooked them for over 2 hours before), just make sure they are not burning. Add the garlic to the onions towards the end of their cooking because the garlic will burn much faster. Chop the bacon into bite size pieces and spread it out on a cooking sheet and bake in the oven on 325 for 20-25 minutes. As the onions and bacon are cooking bring a pot of water to a boil. While the water is coming up to temperature, whisk together the eggs, cream and parmesan. Cook the noodles, and reserve a 1/4 c of the starchy cooking water. When they are done strain them and put them back into the hot pot you boiled them in. Add the eggs mixture and start to toss it together. The residual heat from the noodles will warm the egg mixture but not scramble them creating a thick, creamy sauce. If it is too thick add some of the cooking water. Finally add the onions, garlic and bacon and serve with extra parmesan.

Eat well, Live well