I LOVE PASTA but am tired of tomato-based sauces, so I recently flipped through one of my most-used cookbooks, Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, in search of some new ideas.  I'd heard of spaghetti alla carbonara before, but a look at the ingredients turned me off.  I'm not a big fan of bacon, and there was virtually nothing else in the dish besides bacon, eggs, and cheese.  I envisioned scrambled eggs and bacon bits sprinkled over spaghetti, yuck.  But Bittman's description of it made me give it a chance. 

        “In the seventies, when Americans first realized there was pasta beyond

        tomato sauce, spaghetti alla carbonara was a revelation.  Since that time,

        it has become a joke: Who wants pasta - the epitome of moderate eating - with

        bacon, eggs, and cheese?  But the fact is, pasta, carbonara style (named

        after the charcoal producers, who had remained in the woods for weeks

        at a time and had access only to long-keeping foods such as pasta, eggs,

        bacon, and hard cheese), is delicious - sinfully so.”

    I had to try something “sinfully delicious.”  And it was absolutely fantastic.  Let me tell you, bacon has never tasted this good!  And it was so fast and easy to make.  In the time it takes to boil water and cook spaghetti, you are done.  It's not exactly health food, so I won't make it too often, but this is an absolute treat once in a while.

    I used the recipe from Cooks Illustrated because I think Bittman's recipes tend to be pared down, and I thought if I'm going to try this, I want it to be the real thing.  Here it is:

Spaghetti alla carbonara

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

8 oz thick-sliced bacon, cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1/2 cup dry white wine or stock

3 large eggs*

3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 small garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press

1 pound spaghetti

1 tsp kosher salt or 3/4 tsp table salt

finely ground black pepper (about 1/4 tsp or to taste)

1. 1.Adjust oven rack to the lower middle position, set a large heatproof serving bowl on the rack, and hear the oven to 200 degrees.  Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.
   

2. 2.While the water is heating, heat the oil in a large skillet until shimmering but not smoking.  Add the bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and crisp, about 8 mins.  Add the wine and simmer until the alcohol has cooked off and the wine is slightly reduced, 6 to 8 mins.  Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.  Beat the eggs, cheese, and garlic together with a fork.
   

3. 3. When the water comes to a boil, salt it and cook the pasta until al dente.  Reserve 1/3 cup pasta cooking water.  Drain the pasta, leaving it slightly wet.  transfer pasta to the warmed serving bowl, add the reserved water, and egg mixture and toss to coat.  Pour the bacon mixture over the pasta, season with salt and pepper, and toss well to combine.  Serve immediately.
   

* I wouldn't be too worried about the fact that you use the eggs raw.  If you have the eggs ready to mix into the pasta immediately after it's drained, the heat of the pasta cooks them.  It's no more dangerous than eating over easy eggs.