Pasta dishes are one of the easiest to whip up in the kitchen when you are in a rush and want a fail-proof meal. My go-to pasta dish has always been a tomato-based sauce that my mom used to make, and I admit it does have a bit of a Chinese flare to it, but it’s easy and good. What is your go-to pasta dish?

Instead of making one of my favorite tomato-based pasta recipes today, I’ve decided to try out something different ~ Spaghetti alla Carbonara. I highly recommend trying the recipe below as it’s simple and yummy!

This is my third cooking post on this new blog, and I am starting to notice a theme of easy dishes for the working gal. Or maybe cooking good food isn’t as difficult as most of you think? I really hope my food blog will inspire you to do more cooking at home or going out to explore new restaurants.

What do you think of my Hong Kong food blog so far? Please leave me comments so that I know what you think? I’m always up for suggestions to improve.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara
Serves 2

2 egg yolks*
100g parmesan** cheese
140g pancetta**, cubed
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
200g spaghetti
salt and freshly ground pepper

Boil a large pot of salted water. I recommend putting more salt when boiling your pasta, the water should taste like the ocean.

In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks with a bit of the parmesan cheese. Add a pinch of salt a some freshly ground pepper.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute the pancetta with olive oil.

Once the pot of water is boiling, cook the spaghetti until al dente. Drain the spaghetti and reserve about a cup of the cooking water (do not forget the cooking water, I remind because I always forget)

Add the drained spaghetti into the saucepan with pancetta and toss for 30 seconds. Turn off the heat and remove the saucepan from the heat, then mix in the egg yolks with 3 tablespoons of the pasta water (for about 30 seconds again). Then add in the remaining cheese and some pepper and continue mixing. If the sauce looks too thick, keep adding a tablespoon of the pasta water at a time until you get your desired consistency.

Plate the spaghetti and grind over more fresh ground pepper and sprinkle with a little more cheese if you like.

*Use pasteurized eggs, if you don’t feel comfortable with not cooking the eggs over heat.
**You can also use pecorino cheese instead of parmesan, and you can also use bacon instead of pancetta.

Source: Academia Barilla Easy Italian Authentic Recipes magazine