Cooking With Maddie Newsletter #24

Pasta Carbonara

Greetings to all near and far!

Let me introduce myself — I’m Angela, Maddie’s mom. I’m her first (and hopefully not last) guest writer for the newsletter. I’m the woman who birthed her 26 years-ago, and the person who is her biggest fan. She invited me to take on this writing task a few months ago, but I wasn’t ready. This time around — I decided to give it a go! 

For this week’s recipe, I’m sticking to something simple, but delicious— Pasta Carbonara.  

I’ve been making this dish since I was a young girl. Younger than Maddie. Even younger than Max. Using a small cast iron skillet and pot, I’d make a serving for one whenever my parents had a Saturday date night. I always chose to make pasta carbonara because it’s simple, and we usually had the ingredients— pasta, bacon, eggs, cheese.

Throughout the years, I learned to modify it— my favorite additions being frozen peas, parsley, garlic and onions. I learned from new recipes like this one from the New York Times and another from Bon Appetit.

Recently, my nephew Jack cooked pasta carbonara for us, and it brought back so many memories of making carbonara as a young girl, and it reminded me why I loved it so much— it’s luscious and rich. It’s so creamy, yet there is no cream. It defies logic.

Since Jack was my inspiration for this dish, I wanted to get his recipe for comparison. Like me, he adds fresh parsley.  He also adds garlic. He uses three eggs, three yolks and the whole box of pasta. And a little more cheese. When I was a kid and made this, I would cut up just a few slices of bacon, use one whole egg and about 1/4 box of pasta. For the recipe I’m sharing with you all, it’s a combination of what I grew up on and what I’ve learned through the years.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• Two large eggs, plus two egg yolks, at room temperature

• 1/3 cup grated pecorino, plus more for serving

• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

• Coarsely ground black pepper

• 1/2 pound bacon, cut into 1” pieces

• 12 ounces dried long pasta (spaghetti, linguini or bucatini)

• 1 1/2 cups saved pasta water

• Parsley for garnish

In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk eggs and yolks. Add grated cheeses, black pepper and a big pinch of salt. Whisk to combine and set aside. 

Heat a large pot of salted water to boil, add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain pasta, keeping 1 1/2 cups of pasta water.

While pasta is cooking, put bacon pieces into a large sauté pan, along with 1/2 cup water. Simmer until water has evaporated and then continue cooking. When bacon is crisp, turn off the heat and immediately add cooked pasta to the sauté pan, and toss well with the cooked bacon. 

Next, add the egg and cheese mixture to the pasta until well-combined. Double check that the heat is off. Stir quickly so eggs are mixed throughout the pasta and do not scramble. Add pasta water 1/4 cup at a time, as needed, to desired creaminess. 

Top with remaining pecorino cheese and fresh parsley.

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To follow in Maddie’s footsteps, let me tell you what’s been giving me life this week. It was starting my week with a quick-trip to Denver. I spent the day in Breckenridge with Maddie’s roommate, Anna, while Max skied. It was making it back to St. Louis in-time to housesit in Dogtown with these two dogs. I watched movies all weekend long, the list including The Bodyguard, Shawshank Redemption, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, White Chicks and Mean Girls. 

It was leaving the house on a rainy day to get pistachio ice cream from Clementine’s Creamery, followed by Yen Ching’s special fried rice. Yes, I ate dessert first. It’s also been listening to the wind chimes outside my bedroom in the morning. I love that it gives me a hint as to what the weather will be like that day.

Until next time! 

Angela