The other night I stood in front of my fridge staring blankly in while thinking “There’s NOTHING to cook”.  It was a nice change from morning closet whine “I have NOTHING to wear” lament.  So, while I was debating to order out, a thought popped into my head, “I have pancetta – heavy cream – eggs – spaghetti – Nigella’s Spaghetti Alla Carbonara!” 

Nigella makes everything look easy – and she’s right.  I could see why she joked that she could eat it straight out of the pan.  Bonus, I even had vermouth from one of my recent additions to the Philly liquor cabinet.  This is a recipe that will be tried and tried and tried again…

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Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

Recipe courtesy of Nigella Lawson

Ingredients:

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 2 cups cubed pancetta rind removed
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta.
2. In another large pan that will fit the pasta later, cook the pancetta cubes in the oil until crispy but not crunchy.
3. Pour over the white wine or vermouth and let it bubble away so that, after a few minutes, you have a small amount of salty winey syrup left. Take the pan off the heat.
4. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, Parmesan, cream, and pepper.
5. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, but since you want it kept al dente start checking it 2 minutes before end of the recommended cooking time.
6. When the pasta is done, remove approximately 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining.
7. Put the pan with the bacon cubes back on the heat and add the drained pasta, tossing well to coat with the syrupy pancetta.
8. Take the pan off the heat again and add the eggs and cheese mixture, swiftly tossing everything to mix.
9. Thin with pasta water, if needed.
10. Grind over some more pepper and grate over the nutmeg to serve.

Lining up the ingredients…

Let the vermouth meld with the crispy pancetta

Mixing the egg & cream mixture with the pancetta coated pasta

Make sure to reserve some pasta water

Voila – Spaghetti Alla Carbonara

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