If you think carbonara is a heavy, cream-laden pasta dish think again! Real carbonara is a simple dish of pasta, egg, parsley, pancetta, and pepper that originated in Rome in the mid 1800s. It is extremely simple and quick to prepare, however, it does require exact timing to get just right. With a little planning and advanced staging of ingredients in the final prep space, anyone can master this delicious Italian staple.
Pasta Bowl in Oven at 200° 
Beat Eggs, Cheese, Pepper, Parsley 
STAGE final prep area 
Colavita Long Fusilli 
Brown pancetta in a frying pan large enough to add pasta 
Boil Pasta (less 2 minutes) 
Transfer pasta to frying pan for last 2 minutes 
Quickly combine pasta and egg in 200° bowl 
Toss rigorously to avoid scrambling eggs 
Top with fresh grated parmesan cheese 
Serve with a fine red chianti
Ingredients
6 large eggs or 5 extra large at room temperature
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup fresh chopped Italian parsley
Fresh ground pepper
Fresh ground sea salt
1/2 pound diced pancetta
16 ounce (1 bag) Long Fusilli Buco pasta
Extra virgin olive oil to add to boiling water
Special Equipment
An oven safe pasta bowl is required. The heat of the past bowl is what cooks the eggs in this recipe. Without a bowl at precisely 200° your pasta may finish with raw eggs.
Also consider buying a 12+ quart stainless steel pasta pot with pasta / steamer insert. This allows you to remove the pasta while saving some of the water to add back into subsequent steps.
Steps
Step 1
Carefully stage the kitchen: place pasta bowl in oven at 200° and prepare the kitchen counter where the pasta will eventually be combined with the eggs.
Begin to boil water in a large pasta pot on the stove.
While the pasta water is heating, in a frying pan (deep enough to eventually add the pasta), sauté pancetta on medium heat to a nice golden brown.
Step 2
Beat the eggs until well blended then fold in cheese, parsley, salt, and pepper. LOTS of pepper!
Step 3
Remove pasta from water when the time reaches 2 MINUTES LESS than directions suggest. Be careful to save some pasta water when draining the noodles.
Add semi-cooked pasta plus 1 and 1/4 cup of the hot pasta water to the pancetta and cook for the remaining 2 minutes, tossing regularly.
Step 4 … timing is everything!
Quickly … remove hot pasta bowl from oven, set on counter in the staged final prep area.
Pour pasta and pancetta into the hot bowl, combine with egg mix and toss rigorously for 1 to 2 minutes.
Enjoy!
Serve with freshly grated cheese and a fine Italian Chianti!
Feel free to comment, I would love to hear from you