This would be one of my husband Alex’s favourite pasta dishes, as we call it, Car-banana!  Who doesn’t love those gorgeous tendrils of carbohydrates, bathed in shiny, creamy eggs and piled high with crispy, salty bacon.  Did someone say bacon? OOOOH BACON. Then there’s the lashing of fresh shaved parmesan, herbs and just to add a little bit more grown up bang, a sprinkle of fresh birds eye chili!

Spaghetti Carbonara

Prep time ~15 minutes, Cook time ~ 10 minutes – Total 25 minutes. Serves 6

500g Fresh spaghetti or linguine

Rock salt

12 rashes bacon (just the streaky bit, keep the eye for breakfast!), sliced in to 1cm batons

8 large eggs or 10 medium eggs, beaten lightly

1c grated parmesan cheese

2 tbsp fresh chopped basil

4 birds eye chili, finely sliced (seeds out if you dont like it too hot, or left out if you like it tame)

Fresh ground black pepper

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, season generously with rock salt, and cook pasta to direction as per packet – I find with fresh pasta, if you start the pasta just as you start cooking the bacon, it times quite nicely.  Drain the pasta, reserving approx 1/2c of the cooking water
2. Drop the bacon into a just warm pan, then turn the heat up and cook for approx 8 minutes until its nice and crispy and has produced a bit of oil.  Add the cooked spaghetti and reserved water and stir.
3. Add the beaten eggs, parmesan and a generous sprinkle of black pepper and toss to coat then continue cooking for a further 2 minutes – its REALLY important to keep the pasta moving at this point or you’ll end up with scrambled eggs and bacon.
4. Once the sauce is nice and creamy, add the basil, and chili, and serve with some extra shaved parmesan.

ENJOY!

~LC