Spaghetti "Sant Andrea" alla Carbonara

Here is one of my favorite easy staple dishes inspired by a beautiful and unusual cathedral in Italy.

Some things just go well together. In this dish bacon and eggs come together in an unusual way to make a really tasty pasta dish "Spaghetti alla Carbonara" much like the combination of a Greek temple and a triumphal arch making a great facade of the cathedral as seen at Sant Andrea in Mantua.












When I first saw the the cathedral Sant Andrea, I thought how unusual to see a church facade compositionally made up of a triumphal arch superimposed by a Greek temple style pediment, interestingly when I walked in I saw that the facade had nothing to do with the interior. The inside was a beautiful light filled contemplative space, not something to be associated with soldiers coming home from battle or public life in Greece, which is why I thought of this building when making Carbonara. When you eat this pasta you do not think "bacon and eggs". You think what an elegant pasta with a rich full flavor and savory taste.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 package of spaghetti

• pinch of salt

• 10 cranks of fresh ground pepper

• smidge of olive oil

• 1/4 red onion

• 6 slices of bacon

• 3 egg yolks 1 whole egg

• 1 cup Parmesan cheese

• bit of Italian parsley to garnish

1. in a large pot, put on water to boil with a pinch of salt.

2. chop onion and saute in olive oil in a medium saucepan until they become a little brown.

3. cut bacon into small slices and add to the cooking onions on medium heat until cooked. turn off and let the bacon and onion sit.

4. add 3 egg yolks, whole egg, Parmesan cheese, and pepper in a small bowl. whisk until it becomes a thick yellow mixture.

5. when water boils add spaghetti in and cook until it is al dente, tender but firm.

6. strain spaghetti and add immediately to the saucepan with the bacon and onions meaning that a little bit of the spaghetti water goes into the pan. ( it is important that the saucepan is not hot at this moment so you do not cook your eggs when you add the egg mixture on top.)

7. stir the spaghetti and the bacon and onions mixing the 3 ingredients all together, meanwhile lifting up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan from the cooked bacon and onion.

8. when the spaghetti, bacon, and onions are mixed add the egg mixture on top of the spaghetti.

9. then mix the egg into the pasta mixture.

10. serve onto a plate or bowl and sprinkle with a bit of parsley.

11. enjoy, there is enough stress out there, food should not be one of them!