Orrechiette Carbonara

Often times when you order Carbonara at a restaurant, you get a stodgy white sauce that is as thick as it is unappetizing. Real Carbonara sauce is light and silky on your taste buds, and doesn’t leave a lead weight feeling in your stomach.

This Orrechiette Carbonara recipe fits the bill for a light pasta dinner, but one that is full of complex flavours. Carlo and I couldn’t get enough of it when I made it for dinner, and it even tasted wonderful as cold leftovers the next day. This pasta recipe feeds four people at $1.15 per serving.

Orrechiette Carbonara
4 applewood-smoked bacon slices, diced
2 medium leeks (white and pale green parts only), halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/3-inch pieces
3/4 cup frozen peas
10 ounces orecchiette (little ear-shaped pasta) or small shells
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until it is crisp, about 8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the skillet if necessary. Add the leeks and slowly saut?© them over medium heat until they are tender, about 6 minutes. Set the leeks and bacon aside.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. I threw in some frozen peas at the last minute to up the vegetable quotient in the dish. Drain the pasta and peas, while reserving 1/2 cup of pasta cooking liquid for the sauce.

Whisk the eggs and 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan in a medium bowl to blend; gradually whisk in 1/4 cup of pasta cooking liquid.

Add the pasta and peas to the leeks in the skillet, and stir the mixture to heat everything up. Remove the skillet from the heat. Pour the egg mixture over the pasta and stir until the sauce is just creamy and the eggs are no longer raw, about 2 minutes. (Return the skillet to a very low heat if the egg mixture is runny; do not overcook or the eggs will curdle.)

Add some of the remaining 1/4 cup of pasta cooking liquid to the pasta if it is too dry. Stir in the bacon and parsley. Serve the pasta, topped with some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.