Pasta Carbonara

I heart Italian food. Somewhere in my Irish body lies an Italian just waiting to get out. My family or rather the brats are not so key with Italian food. The Ballplayer likes spaghetti but find me a child that doesn't. The Tortured Teenager loves Alfredo noodles. That pretty much sums up what my kids will eat that is Italian. I love it all. Lucky for me that the Fireman does too.

Pasta Carbonara is somewhat similar in texture to Alfredo Noodles. I LOVE it when I can get to a good Italian restaurant. I have tried in the past to make it and have failed. I am on an mission to get it right. I finally...Finally...conquered it!

Pasta Carbonara
1 box of spaghetti cooked according to the directions
1/2 pound of bacon or pancetta if you have it, diced
1 cup of fresh grated Parmesan (grate on the smallest option or it wont melt like you will want. This was a mistake I made but it doesn't change the over all taste)
4 eggs beaten
3 TB parsley chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
2 TB white wine

cut the bacon into chunks and crisp up in a pan large enough to dump the pasta in later.
At the same time, start the pasta cooking. Timing is critical with this dish. Start prepping the rest of the ingredients.
beat the eggs with a handful of the cheese and tons of pepper. Some add cream but I keep it simple.
reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta liquid. Careful to not burn yourself with the steam.
add the garlic to the pan, and once it starts to get some color add the couple of TB of wine. I do this to just deglaze the pan. You dont need much. If you don't have any wine open, grab some Marsala or use some of the pasta water but don't use much of the pasta water. If your bacon gave you too much drippings, you may want to drain some of it. I am making a TON of pasta so I left it in (hence the big backside)
add the drained pasta to the pan and REMOVE from the heat. Add the egg to the pasta and carefully with tongs start coating all the pasta with the egg and the bacon. The items in the pan are hot enough to cook the egg yet we are not looking for scrambled eggs.
now add the remaining Parmesan and parsley. This is where I should have grated my Parmesan more finely. Some even add all the Parmesan to the egg mixture. I will try that next time. If it is not creamy enough, add the pasta water. I always add the pasta water. I like it creamy and I am still struggling with my stove trying desperately to not make scrambled eggs.
Serve! I am SO happy that I managed to do this with out scrambled eggs this time! Last time it was a disaster! Next time I will play around with the ingredients even more!