Dreams of a Grandmother - Fresh Pasta Carbonara

During the COVID times, I think we all spend more time than usual thinking about the health and wellbeing of our elders. This is my ode to Italian grandmothers, or at least to my imagination of what an Italian grandmother would be like (stay safe out there, Italian grandmothers, so that you can live not just in my imagination!).

My imaginary Italian grandma is similar to the character in Season 2 of Master of None — aproned, feisty, and insistent upon making insanely delicious pasta with only her bare hands. I imagine gesturing to a mixing machine only to hear her say, “No! Only hands! Only pasta!” And she would share similar resistance to recipes with a multitude of arcane flours or startling ingredients. “Only eggs! Only flour!” Then she’d pinch her fingers together, “Little salt.”

So that’s what I looked for when I looked for recipes for fresh, eggy pasta. I wanted the springy yet substantial, toothsome pasta that I remembered from visiting Italy with my own (non-Italian) grandma when I was 13 and awkward (vs 35 and awkward). This pasta delivers on those memories (awkwardness not included, unless you BYO, which is totally fine).

The carbonara recipe was handed down to me from a roommate almost 15 years ago. I’ve been slowly “honing my craft” ever since. I think it’s gotten to a place where my real Nana and my imaginary Italian “Nonna” would approve, and unlike many carbonaras, there’s no cream, only eggs and parmesan to bind, which I prefer.

I won’t lie — making pasta by hand isn’t fast. Grandmas don’t move quickly. For speedier results, use any store bought pasta you like. It is still delicious.

RECIPE - Pasta recipe from The Spruce Eats. Carbonara recipe from Samuel Gonzalez. Serves 2-4, depending on hunger / willpower.

INGREDIENTS

Pasta

2 cups All Purpose Flour
4 Eggs
1 teaspoon salt

Carbonara Sauce

1/3 - 1/2 slab of bacon
8 cloves garlic
2 large onions
2 Eggs
2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Peas (approx. I use frozen peas)
Salt and Pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Begin by making the pasta since it will have to chill for at least 30 min. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl or on a clean work surface. Make a well in the center and crack the eggs into it.

Well, this well didn’t turn out exactly as planned, but that’s ok.

Use a fork to beat the eggs and then gradually start incorporating the flour into the eggs (as you beat them, they will slowly but surely take up some flour from along the edge of where the eggs meet the flour).

Keep stirring and pulling in more flour until a solid dough forms. The dough will be sticky. Like really sticky. It will rival most glues used in elementary schools. Don't worry, you'll be working in more flour in a moment. Too much flour now and the extra flour needed to roll out the noodles will lead to an oddly dry, rather than tender, noodle in the end.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface. With well-floured hands, knead the dough, incorporating more flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to either the work surface or your hands, until the dough is smooth and firm and no longer sticky. This takes 5 to 10 minutes for most people. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and chill it for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight. I chilled for about an hour.

All floured up with somewhere to go (the refrigerator)

Use time while the dough is chilling to start to make your carbonara. Set a wok or large skillet on medium heat. Dice the bacon into small bits and add to pan to sizzle. Dice the garlic and add it to the bacon once the bacon starts to brown.

Ok, a sea of bacon fat may not be “heart healthy,” but it is delicious.

Dice the onion and add it to the bacon once the bacon is fully browned. Lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to low and let the the bacon fat slowly render and cook the onions until they are soft and translucent and the bacon bits are all very crisp. The depth of flavor in the final dish will correlate to your patience in letting the bacon progress at each step of the cooking process until you’re left with nothing but crisp deliciousness surrounded by deep-flavored bits of garlic and onions. Stir to prevent burning.

You will be consistently tempted to just eat this and stop cooking.

Scatter the peas. Now this meal is “healthy.” Turn the mixture off once the peas are cooked.

This is a “healthy” meal if ever I saw one.

Return to your dough. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and work with one quarter of the dough at a time. Roll each quarter into a small ball. On a well-floured surface roll out the dough to the desired thickness. I rolled to ~1/8 inch (~2-3 mm). If in doubt, err on the side of a thinner pasta since the eggs inside the pasta will make it puff up slightly when cooked and very thick pastas will taste oddly brick-like. I’m not saying it should be paper thin (mine wasn’t), but ~1/8 inch is a good target. Sprinkle flour as much as you need to prevent sticking.

You will make four of these. Grandmas have so much patience.

Use a sharp knife to cut the noodles (or pizza cutting wheel. I think a grandma would approve of that simple machine). You can make the noodles as narrow or wide as you like but cut them as evenly as possible to ensure a uniform cooking time. I like a somewhat narrow fettuccine-style noodle.

Lay the noodles aside, or on a drying rack if you have it, until all the noodles are ready to cook. Put water on to boil. Include a generous amount of salt and a small drizzle of olive oil in the water. Repeat rolling and cutting with the remaining quarters of dough.

Crack two raw eggs into a bowl or cup and add parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. Beat to combine. Set aside.

Was this photo really needed? I wasn’t sure, but thought it would help make the egg mixture step “pop”

Turn the heat back on, very low, to your bacon mixture so that it is warm and very quietly sizzling. This will help create a piping hot final plate of pasta and to help cook the raw egg when it is added.

Add pasta to boiling water and remove when pasta is tender. You will need to watch it closely since fresh pasta cooks more quickly than you might think. Be vigilant here and taste frequently. It’s ok to pull it out when it is very slightly under-done since it will cook a little bit in the final steps. Also, the worst thing that could happen is that after you have pain-staking hand-sliced all that pasta grandma-style and patiently rendered all of your bacon, your pasta becomes overcooked, gummy mush of which no Italian would approve.

Drain pasta. Add it to the quietly sizzling bacon mixture. Add egg and parmesan mixture. Mix over very low heat until all the tasty bacon and onion bits are relatively evenly distributed and the raw egg is cooked to the level of your liking.