Summer is made for recipes as short, simple, speedy and satisfying as this.
Clocking in with just seven ingredients, this delicious take on pasta carbonara will have you in and out of the kitchen in under 20 minutes. It varies from traditional carbonara by not incorporating the egg into the cheese "sauce" with which the pasta is tossed.
Instead, the egg is fried separately then served over pasta that has been tossed with crisped pancetta. When broken over the pasta, the runny yolks create an amazing sauce for the pasta, blending perfectly with the flavors of the Parmesan and pancetta.
Feel a need to add greens to your meal? Serve the whole thing over a bed of arugula, which will wilt slightly from the heat of the other ingredients, as well as soak up any of the egg that drips to the bottom
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WHOLE EGG PASTA CARBONARA
Start to finish: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
12-ounce package fresh linguine
8 ounces finely chopped pancetta
2 tablespoons butter
4 eggs
Salt and ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese, divided
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta.
Leave the pasta in the colander to drain. Return the saucepan to the heat. Add the pancetta and cook until just crisp, about 5 minutes. Add the pasta, then toss well. Cover and set aside.
In a large skillet over low heat, melt the butter. Keeping them separate, crack the eggs into the skillet and cook sunny-side up until the whites are set and the yolks are still runny, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat. Season the eggs with salt and pepper.
Add 1 cup of the cheese to the pasta and toss to melt. While tossing, drizzle in just enough of the reserved cooking water to help the cheese coat the pasta. Arrange the pasta on 4 serving plates, then top each mound with an egg. Sprinkle each serving with a bit more cheese. If desired, use a fork to break each yolk just before serving.
Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 790 calories; 420 calories from fat (53 percent of total calories); 46 g fat (23 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 355 mg cholesterol; 50 g carbohydrate; 42 g protein; 3 g fiber; 1,580 mg sodium.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: Food Editor J.M. Hirsch is author of the cookbook "High Flavor, Low Labor: Reinventing Weeknight Cooking." Follow him to great eats on Twitter at http://twitter.com/JM_Hirsch or e-mail him at jhirsch(at)ap.org.