By Angie McGowan
Spaghetti Carbonara is our family’s favorite go-to pasta dinner. It’s quick, comforting, and so easy. But I’ll admit I’m usually out of the typical carbonara ingredients – pancetta or prosciutto and dry white wine. That’s why I created an even better carbonara recipe with more common ingredients, bacon and beer. We use stout, or any other dark beer for this recipe. Using a dark beer and smoky bacon adds much more depth of flavor. You just have to try this. And my favorite part about this dish is that it’s so quick and easy to make. Your friends will think you made some super fancy Italian dish, when in reality you just threw together some bacon and eggs and put it with pasta. And the best part about this dish is, it’s cheap! What more could you ask for?
I serve this with a side salad, some crusty bread with a dipping olive oil infused with garlic and dried herbs, and of course, beer.
Bacon and Beer Carbonara
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped
- 8 oz smoked bacon, chopped
- 3 eggs, plus 2 egg yolks
- 2 cups sweet grape tomatoes (optional)
- 1 cup Stout or other Dark Beer
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 lb spaghetti
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Method
1. Add chopped bacon to a large skillet. Cook for about 10 minutes over medium low heat, and then add chopped onions. Continue to cook until bacon renders it’s fat and is crisp.
2. While bacon is cooking, cook pasta according to package directions. After bacon is done, add beer and tomatoes to skillet with bacon, it’s fat and the onions. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Wait until tomatoes pop. Add eggs to a large bowl and whisk. Temper the eggs by adding a little of the hot beer mixture at a time to the eggs, whisking constantly until you’ve added all the beer and bacon mixture. Combine this with the pasta and Parmesan. Toss well to coat. The heat from the pasta will cook the eggs and melt the cheese.
Food , Recipes
