Speed Pasta Carbonara

I'm a huge fan of pasta carbonara and try it at pretty much every Italian restaurant I go to that has their version. Typically it requires a heck of a lot of prep work. I don't necessarily have that kind of patience at home so here is the speed version I came up with.

Supplies:

Pasta Roni - Parmesan Cheese

Whole Milk

Butter

Havarti Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

Bacon

Step 1: Bacon Prep

1. Dice up your bacon and fry it until it gets a level of crisp on the outside
2. Fry it until it gets a level of crisp on the outside so that there is a level of chew and crisp in the finished carbonara

In this instance I used slices of homemade pepper cottage bacon but you can use pre-cooked bacon or uncooked package bacon of your choice.

Step 2: Extra Cheese Prep

1. Slice up approximately 4 ounces of Havarti Cheese
   • Havarti is a really nice melting cheese and gives the additional creaminess expected from carbonara.
   • I used a Jalapeno Havarti for this particular dinner because I wanted a little spicy kick.
2. Grate up a decent pile of approximately 2-4 ounces of Parmesan Cheese
   • I'm a huge fan of Parmesan so I was pretty generous.

Step 3: Make the Boxed Pasta

1. At least 1 additional tablespoon of butter greater than the recipe.
2. Whole milk was used in this instance but Half and Half would make for a naturally creamier product and not necessarily require more cheese.
3. A generous amount of fresh ground cracked black pepper was added.
   • This is commonly found in many restaurant versions.
4. Add your preferred amount of bacon at this time.
   • As with much of this dish, I did use most of the bacon that I fried up. It was just too delicious not to.
5. Cook your pasta to al dente.

Step 4: Extra Cheese Time!

Now is the time to add the extra Havarti and Parmesan cheese. The reason the cheeses are added after the pasta is finished is because they will contribute to a thickening that is not conducive to finish cooking the pasta noodles.

Step 5: Enjoy Your Speed Pasta Carbonara!

Plate your pasta carbonara, top with a little extra bacon and parmesan cheese and enjoy!

In total this should take you about 15 - 20 minutes tops.

If using pre-cooked bacon and pre-shredded parmesan, you'll have it on your plate in about 10 minutes.

Comments

[adicolangelo]

Seems good but definitely not Carbonara. Italians are strict about this dish and if you don't use at least eggs you'll be deported

[garzo]

Exactly. Using bacon instead of "guanciale" could be overlooked, but if you want to have a "carbonara" you have to use eggs instead of cheese. This might taste good, but it's like using zucchini instead of a wiener to make a hot dog. Is it still a hot dog?
Ps: the real carbonara is quicker to prepare than this recipe. You basically fry the bacon, cook the noodles, then throw the noodles in the pan you've used to fry the bacon, crack some eggs in, add grated cheese, grind some pepper, stir everything for few seconds and that's it. ;)

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Seems like a great way to make carbonara with a packaged pasta! I'll have to give this a try :D

[jessyratfink]

Looks great :D