I just love the simplicity of this dish! If you love one pot meals, than this delicious Italian “poor man’s food is for you. I’ll admit I was watching a cooking show, that explored some regions in Italy. It brought me back to my culinary school days. We had to study where and how foods were used in the different locations of Italy. Like cheeses, wine and certain animals.

Spaghetti carbonara back in the the 1950’s were considered a poor man or working man’s dish. Hell! With the price of eggs nowadays, I’d have to contemplate that. These were simple ingredients that most people had on hand in their homes.

Ingredients

Linguine or Spaghetti 1 box

Bacon 1 pack and a half

*1 large red bell pepper

1 lg eggs

Fresh parsley

Parmigiana reggiano

Salt and pepper to taste

This recipe renders 6 to 8 servings

*Feel free to use any veggies you want ie: peas, green bell peppers etc.

How to make

Remember, I said this is actually a one pot dish. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions (please don’t forget to add salt to the water). Once you get a boil, drop in your pasta.

Once the pasta is cooked, set aside in a separate bowl with about a cup or so of the salted pasta water, then cover with aluminum foil.

In the same pot you boiled your pasta, put the cut up bacon and set flame to medium heat. When bacon is 90% done, add veggies (in this case the cut up red bell pepper). Cook for a few minutes until peppers are medium soft, add a little salt and black pepper.

Add cooked pasta to the pot of bacon and bell pepper, let the pasta soak up the bacon grease, then add the fresh parsley (small dice), and a little shredded parmigiana reggiano.

Let cook for a minute, turn off heat, use a fork to whip the eggs in a bowl. Then pour over in the pot to incorporate ingredients stirring gently to coat.

Serve immediately with a glass of red wine, because, to me it makes such a difference with this dish tasting fresh and hot. Sprinkle a little parsley and cheese over the top on the spaghetti carbonara for presentation.

Easy to make and very filling. I do understand why this dish was popular in Piedimonte, Italy many years ago. Ingredients were simple, yet packed a lot of flavor, and filling enough to get villagers through another working day.

Enjoy this amazing dish! I did 😋