Disclaimer: I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central for the National Pasta Association. I received pasta samples and a stipend to facilitate the creation of pasta recipes as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
For a few weeks I’ve been hankering for a really good pasta dish. With that in mind, I started browsing the Pasta Fits website in search of a good (and easy to make) pastsa dish. A hearty pasta dish can satisfy the largest appetites, but can still be healthy and customized easily to match picky taste buds. The Pasta Fits recipe for Spiffy Bucatini Carbonara met everything I look for in a new recipe…
Does it sound good? Yup! I’m not sure what Bucatini is, but spiffy sounds good to me.
Is it easy to make? Yup! This meal is ready in less than 30 minutes (and can likely be done in under 20 minutes.)
Will people it eat? Most definitely. This has all the makings of a dish that can become a favorite in our home.
Bacon Carbonara Recipe
- 4 oz. bacon or pancetta, diced
- 1 Tbsp finely chopped garlic
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ½ lb. spaghetti
- 6 oz. baby spinach, washed
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the spaghetti, and when there are 2 minutes left to go, add the baby spinach to the pot.
- Reserve ½ cup of the pasta water then drain.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat a sauté pan over medium heat.
- Add the bacon/pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally until it browns (about 5 minutes).
- Add the chopped garlic and thyme and cook until aromatic (about 30 seconds.)
- Deglaze the pan with the wine. Cook until most of the liquid has cooked away (about 3 minutes).
- Set bacon mix aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and cheese, seasoning with salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
- Whisking the eggs constantly, slowly pour the hot pasta water into the eggs.
- Add the cooked spaghetti and spinach, as well as the bacon mixture to the eggs.
- Toss to coat and mix pasta evenly.
- Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary
I started cooking my spaghetti late and wasted a lot of time waiting for it to cook, so if you give this recipe a go, remember – pasta starts cooking first! As the water boils and the pasta cooks, you’ll have plenty of time to get the rest of the ingredients prepped and cooked.
Even though I had an idea this would be an easy meal when I started cooking, I didn’t realize that most of the “work” was in the prep, and even that was just a little bit of chopping or dicing. I also didn’t realize how hungry I would get as I kept prepping with a pan of sizzling diced bacon on the stove.
Baaaaccooooon…..
While the bacon was cooking, I started the carbonara sauce, which is basically whisked eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Around this time, your pasta should be done (or almost done). The original recipe calls for Bucatini pasta, which is a long pasta similiar to spaghetti that has a hole through the center, so it’s like a long tube. As cool as Bucatini sounds, I had spaghetti on hand, so I used that instead.
Remember to save some of the hot pasta water for your carbonara sauce before you drain the pasta and spinach. You end up “cooking” everything when you add the hot pasta water, then mixing everything in a big bowl.
Everything mixed in a big bowl. LOL!
After mixing everything together, you can either serve family style at the table or divide it into servings and enjoy!
This was my first time cooking a carbonara pasta dish. I’m so glad that Pasta Fits helped me find a recipe that was healthy, easy to make, and a delicious winner with even the picky eaters.
Do you enjoy a delicious pasta meal? Celebrate National Pasta Month in October and cook up your favorite pasta dish! If you’d like to find new pasta recipes or to learn more about pasta during National Pasta Month, head over to the Pasta Fits website and see the many ways pasta fits in our recipes and meals. The Pasta Fits website is a great recipes to learn more about pasta, the many shapes pasta comes in, and more.
Pasta Fits Online
- Visit the Pasta Fits Website
- “Like” Pasta Fits on Facebook
- Follow @PastaFits on Twitter
- Follow Pasta Fits on Pinterest
Disclaimer: I participated in an Ambassador Program on behalf of Mom Central for the National Pasta Association. I received pasta samples and a stipend to facilitate the creation of pasta recipes as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
denise says
May 9, 2015 at 11:52 amthis sounds delicious and easy.