Ok, I don’t post a lot of recipes but when I get a good one that all my pals will eat, I like to pass it on.  If it is super easy like this one, it is even better.

You can get this to the table in 15 minutes or less so it is a winner all around.  Serve it with salad and garlic cheese bread and you just made dinner worthy of company.

Carbonara can take much longer than this but I take shortcuts when I can and suggest you do too.  This recipe freaks people out because it has raw egg in it but essentially the egg is cooked when you toss it on the hot pasta so you really have nothing to worry about…..promise.

Ok, here we go.  Here is what you need:

And noodles of course, any kind you want.  I do fusilli or tornado pasta as my pals call it.

Now a word about this packaged bacon – it is brilliant.  It is located in the grocery store by the salad dressings and fake bacos but this is the real deal.  It is real crumbled bacon and it is about 3 bucks.  I always have it on hand to toss in omelettes, scrambled eggs and pasta.  It is much easier than frying up bacon or prosciutto that the original recipe calls for.

This makes enough for our entire family with no leftovers.  I cook exactly half the box of pasta which according to the package is 8 servings.

Ok, back to the details:

2 eggs

1/2 cup parm cheese

1/8 cup milk or cream or half and half (whatever you have)

1 cup of peas

1/2 – 3/4 cup of the bacon

1/4 -1/2 tsp salt  (I just do it to taste)

few dashes of pepper

3 tsp butter

 

Now down to business.  Beat the 2 eggs in a bowl then add the cheese, milk and salt and pepper.

Set aside and boil your noodles in salted water.  Throw about 1/2 tsp of salt in there at least….tornado pasta in our house.

Drain the pasta.  I usually do it half ass on purpose so I have a couple teaspoons of the starchy water left in there.  Add the butter and let it melt.

Then throw the bacon in there.  The piping hot pasta will melt a little bit of the bacon fat and make it nice and smokey and bacony without adding drippings like all the original recipes call for.  Now take your cheese and egg mixture and pour it on the hot pasta.  Toss it up real good and it cooks and coats the pasta as you do this.  Don’t dick around and get distracted.  Do it right away so the pasta is hot enough to accomplish this.

After tossing this for about a good minute, throw in your peas.  You can throw frozen peas right in there as the residual heat will also cook these little babies right up.  I LOVE peas and I put them in everything.  Peas.  What’s not to love?

Now you can eat it right out of that pot if you want or you can put in a fancy dish like this…..

Top it with a little more cheese and you are good to go.  This is one of those dishes you will make again and again because if you keep the bacon on hand and peas in the freezer, you should be able to make this on one of those nights when you have no groceries and are short on time to make dinner.

Give it a whirl.  You will not be disappointed.  I promise.  Everyone in my family loves this one – even the giant baby….and the dog.

Remember, just don’t dick around or your eggs won’t cook on your hot pasta.  You have been warned.

Enjoy!