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Pasta Carbonara with Baby Kale!

An easy dinner made in less than 30 minutes! Note: Carbonara doesn't reheat as well as most pastas. If you won't be eating it all, I recommend making a half batch.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Keyword easy dinner recipe, easy pasta recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 16 ounces spaghetti or linguini prepared to package instructions
  • 1/2 pound thickly sliced pancetta, cooked and then chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated with a microplane
  • 5 large egg yolks
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream
  • ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
  • Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste
  • Zest of one medium lemon
  • ½ cup pasta water reserved for thinning sauce, you may need a little, or none
  • Large handful baby kale, or if preferred use arugula

Instructions

  1. Place a large stock pot of salted water to boil.
  2. While waiting for pasta water, place pancetta in pan on medium/high heat. Cook for several minutes until both sides are crispy and browned. Remove from pan, place on paper towels and allow to cool, then chop.
  3. While pancetta is cooking, prepare sauce.

  4. When ready add pasta to boiling water, stir frequently.  While pasta cooks, prepare sauce

Sauce prep:

  1. Place olive oil, garlic, egg yolks, cream, lemon zest, cheese, a generous pinch of sea salt and a few turns of fresh pepper in a large bowl (large enough to accommodate pasta) and whisk well. Set aside.

Put It Together!

  1. When pasta is al dente, reserve 1/2 cup pasta water in a small cup and strain pasta in colander (do not rinse). Place pasta in the bowl with cream/egg mixture. Toss well. If sauce is too thick add a little pasta water to thin. (You may need a little, you may need a lot, you may need none at all)

  2. Add pancetta and a handful baby kale to pasta and toss. Place pasta on plates and sprinkle with salt and pepper, serve immediately.