Not Your Mama's Carbonara

I hope I can maintain this momentum...

Dinner tonight was another experiment, and also a huge success. My hubby couldn't stop raving about it... And the picture came out great!

Not Your Mama's Carbonara

Ingredients

½ box of dried pasta (spaghetti, linguini or fettucini)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

4 slices of bacon or ham, cut into bite size pieces

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

4 cloves garlic, minced

¼ tsp crushed red pepper

2 large eggs

1 cup Parmesan or Pecorino grated cheese, plus more for serving

2 tbsp heavy cream

Handful of fresh basil, chopped

Cook the pasta according to package directions for al dente, then drain well, reserving 1/2 cup of the water to use in the sauce if needed. It’s important that the pasta is still hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.

In a large skillet, sauté the chicken (season with salt and pepper) then remove. In the same pan, over medium flame, heat the olive oil. Add the bacon and saute for about 3 minutes, until crisp. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper and sauté until garlic is softened. Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss well. Add the chicken back in. Beat the eggs and cheese together separately. Remove the pan from the heat and pour in the egg mixture pouring slowly and mixing quickly so the eggs don’t scramble. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water. Stir in most of the basil, keeping some for garnish. Top with more of the grated cheese, and the basil garnish.