I have a secret. I hate tomato sauce – because I HATE TOMATOES.
This means it is sometimes difficult to find food at Italian restaurants. I didn’t even know I liked pizza until I discovered substituting Alfredo sauce for tomato sauce. It was revolutionary.
As I have eaten through many Italian restaurant menus, one of my favorite things is pasta carbonara – there is not one tomato in sight. I also love the flavor of the sauce, and the little spark of bacon.
I wanted to make this at home, and after doing a little research, I learned it was so easy. In my recipe, I use shrimp. However, it is easy to tweak this for chicken or sausage.
This carbonara recipe makes about 4-6 servings (depending on how hungry you are). My biggest regret when I made this was not buying french bread for garlic bread. Don’t make my mistake.
INGREDIENTS
1 lb of peeled and deveined shrimp (tails off)
1 lb of angel hair pasta
8 oz of bacon
Parsley
2 eggs, 2 egg yolks
2.5 cups of parmesan cheese
Salt
Pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
Cook pasta according to instructions. Leave 1 cup of pasta water for later. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, egg yolks and 1.5 cups of parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper.
Chop the bacon into pieces and cook. When the bacon is done, put the bacon in a bowl, leaving the grease in the pan.
Add 1/2 cup of pasta water to the bacon grease. Add the shrimp and let them cook for about 3-5 minutes. Add the drained pasta.
Mix the shrimp in together and add the cheese sauce. Mix well.
Add the bacon. After it is mixed, add salt, pepper and parsley to taste.
Garnish with parmesan cheese.
What is your favorite Italian dish?
