Oh boy, what a feast. And easy. 15 minutes! Feeds 3.5 people for dinner and next day lunch (reheated, ideally in a frying pan).
A note to all Italians, especially Romans: Please do not take offense, this is slightly adapted to your delicious original Carbonara. I would never claim that this is what your Carbonara is made like. So please ignore the garlic, the onions and the pine nuts.
All you need is 500g Spaghetti, lots of shredded parmesan, a clove of garlic (crushed and chopped), half an onion (chopped), 5 eggs (from which 2 with white, 3 only the yolk), pine nuts and of course pancetta sliced and, well, pepper and salt (if you have a little one like me, don’t season, the pancetta will give you enough of that).
Start with boiling water in a large sauce pan. Some 4 to 5 liters ideally.
Heat your frying pan, fry the pine nuts, constantly moving them (don’t you burn those beauties!). remove the pine nuts, add olive oil to the pan and add the pancetta.
Now is a good time to put a handful of salt in the boiling water and add the spaghetti. Do not break them, just let them soften. And only then, once in a while mix them around. The water must boil throughout the entire process.
Once the pancetta in your frying pan is nicely golden brown, add onions and reduce the heat. Let them turn soft on golden. While this is happening, mix 5 egg yolks and 2 egg whites with salt, pepper (again, I do not, so that the little one can have at it, too) and parmesan, a good 100 gram. Let it sit.
Add the garlic to the frying pan, fry for another minute. Now add the pine nuts, turn off the heat.
By now the Spaghetti are close. Try one. Al dente (with a bite)? Perfect. Now this is important. Move the spaghetti with tongs from the water dripping wet directly into your frying pan. Mix in the frying pan, then add the egg mix. Just mix it around, do not turn on the heat anymore, otherwise you egg mix gets flaky because it cooks too fast, you want it gently warmed.
Lastly, add some of your Spaghetti water to the mix, to heat it up once more and make it deliciously creamy.
Done! Sprinkle grated parmesan on each serving and enjoy!