Orecchiette Carbonara With Peas
Published June 3, 2003
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
Salt
3 ounces apple-wood smoked bacon, thickly sliced and cut into ¼-inch cubes
4 ounces pancetta, coarsely chopped so you have ¼-inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1 ½ cups peas
2 teaspoons thyme leaves
3 eggs
6 egg yolks
1 ¾ cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 pound orecchiette
Freshly ground black pepper
20 small pea shoots (or small spinach leaves)
½ lemon
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. In a large sauté pan, place bacon and pancetta in oil over medium-low heat. Cook until bacon is browned and has rendered most of its fat. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of fat, leaving meat in the pan. Scrape in onion and garlic, and sauté until glassy and translucent, then add peas and thyme. Cook for 1 minute, then turn off heat.
- Step 2
In a large mixing bowl, lightly whisk together eggs, egg yolks and cheese.
- Step 3
When water comes to a rolling boil, stir in pasta and cook until tender but still a little chewy in the center (like a piece of gum). Ladle out a cup of cooking water, and reserve. Drain pasta, and pour it into sauté pan with bacon; grind coarse pepper over top. Fold pasta into sauce.
- Step 4
Tip pasta into egg mixture, and fold it all together quickly, so eggs cook and coat pasta with a velvety sauce. Add pea tendrils (or spinach), and fold once more. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding a generous squeeze of lemon juice. Add a little pasta water if it becomes too thick. Spoon into shallow bowls, and sprinkle with parsley.
Private Notes
Comments
I omitted the bacon and only used pancetta. We really enjoyed it! To Mark B - I too miss the Wednesday recipe section in the printed newspaper.
I’ve made this since it was first published in The NY Times Wednesday food section. Remember when there were recipes in the newspaper?
Should the eggs be at room temperature?