Midweek Pasta - Spaghetti Carbonara

There are many disputed stories about the origin the dish but give a medal to the genius who invented this fabulous dish I say!

With so few ingredients needed and most are readily available in our kitchen, this is the perfect dish on days when cooking up a storm is not the key phrase for the night.

They key to the success of a good carbonara is the quality of the ingredients so go out and get the freshest free range eggs and a good chunk of Parmesan cheese (non of those tasteless locally made stuff). More importantly no cream please!

serves 4 as a one dish meal 
you'll need;
500g of spaghetti
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese
2 tbs of olive oil
40g of butter
3 garlic cloves
300g of pancetta or bacon, cut into small strips
extra parmesan to serve

Cut pancetta or bacon into strips and place eggs, egg yolks and parmesan cheese in a bowl, whisk everything with a fork and set aside.

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan and add in the pancetta or bacon together with the garlic cloves. Cook over moderate heat until the pancetta is crisp, discarding the garlic and remove the pan from the heat source and allow to cool slightly otherwise the residue heat from the pan might cook the egg further.

Cook spaghetti with plenty of salted water until al dente, drain well and add to the pan, toss well before adding the egg and cheese mixture and mix well.

Serve immediately with sprinkling of extra parmesan cheese.