Ingredients
Equipment
Method
Sauté mushrooms
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat for 1 minute approximately.
- Add olive oil to skillet, allowing it to heat for a few seconds.
- Add mushrooms, settling them out to a single layer.
- After 2 minutes, once you can hear the mushrooms starting to release their moisture, add garlic and stir or toss to combine.
- Sauté for another 2 or three minutes, until mushrooms are just starting to soften.
- Turn heat down to the lowest setting possible to hold mushrooms warm until plating. Alternately, they can be turned off entirely, and rewarmed briefly later.
Egg Mixture
- Combine egg yolks, egg, 2 oz. of grated cheese, and black pepper in a mixing bowl.
- Whisk contents of the bowl with a wire whip until completely homogenous, and no streaks of egg white are visible.
Bacon
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat for approximately 2 minutes.
- Add chopped bacon pieces in an even single layer.
- Allow to start to sear and render away some of the fat before stirring.
- Once a small layer of fat forms, stir to allow all sides of the bacon to render and crisp.
- When the fat begins to foam a little and the bacon pieces are uniformly browned, remove the bacon to rest on paper towel, turning off the heat, and reserving the skillet with the fat in it for later use.
Cooking Pasta and Making Sauce
- Start a large pot of salted water on high heat (about 1 teaspoon of salt).
- Once the pasta pot is boiling, add spaghetti and cook according to the package directions.
- Stir the noodles in the beginning part of the cooking to facilitate them getting pliable enough to drop into the water all the way, and keep it from sticking to itself.
- After the pasta is almost al dente, (about 8 minutes in), return the bacon pan to low heat.
- Add 4 ounces of the pasta water to the egg mixture using a spoon or ladle, and stir it in immediately with the whip. This will help to heat the mixture slightly and gently.
- Pour the egg mixture into the bacon pan.
- Immediately begin fishing the pasta out of the water with tongs into the egg pan. Do not try to drip off the water from it, as the excess water will help form the sauce.
- Once all of the pasta is in the large skillet, begin stirring to combine the egg mixture with it.
- The resulting sauce will start to thicken. If it appears to be getting gluey or too thick, add a small amount of the pasta water until it is the desired consistency.
- Taste the pasta for seasoning, add more salt and pepper if desired.
Plating/Garnish
- Portion the pasta and sauce evenly into 2 serving bowls or plates.
- Add the reserved bacon pieces and sautéed mushrooms on top of each.
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese onto the pasta.
- Serve immediately.