About This Recipe
When you think about it, there are infinite variations on Spaghetti Carbonara, one of my favorite quick and easy weeknight dinner recipes. You can add everything from mushrooms to meatballs to sautéed veggies and every kind of cheese. You can even change the pasta, to, say, tortellini. So let’s add blue cheese to make Blue Cheese Spaghetti Carbonara!
But my newest brainstorm happened when I was cleaning out the fridge and found some blue (or bleu) cheese crumbles I had forgotten about. The expiration date was still weeks off, so it was all systems go.
And the addition of the tangy and slightly sour blue cheese to this simple Italian recipe was perfection, if unorthodox.
If you don’t like blue cheese, try goat cheese, feta, Parmesan, or any slightly more exotic version. Yum.
Tips for the best Blue Cheese Spaghetti Carbonara:
- Always be careful about how long you cook the pasta. Overcooked and undercooked pasta are both unpleasant. Pasta that is cooked correctly, to al dente, is tender but still slightly firm in the center. The only way to tell if the pasta is cooked correctly is to taste it. Taste it often during the last few minutes of cooking time.
- Make sure the bacon is cooked very crisp. There’s nothing worse than uncrisp bacon.
- Work quickly when you add the egg mixture to the pasta. And serve it immediately while it’s still hot!
Why this recipe works:
- The contrast between the sharp and tangy blue cheese and the mild al dente pasta is delicious. The bacon adds another layer of flavor, which magnifies the taste of the whole dish.
- I recently learned that eggs may not be fully cooked when used in a carbonara recipe. So if you have anyone in your family in a high risk category for food poisoning, use pasteurized eggs in this recipe.
- The pasta cooking water is traditionally used to help make sauces in Italian recipes.
Steps
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1
Done
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Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon salt. |
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2
Done
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Meanwhile, prepare the bacon and set aside. |
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3
Done
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Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente, stirring frequently. This should take about 7 to 9 minutes. |
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4
Done
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While the pasta is cooking, combine the eggs, cream, and Parmesan cheese in a small bowl and beat well. |
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5
Done
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When the pasta is cooked al dente, reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water and set aside. Then drain the pasta and immediately return it to the hot pan. |
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6
Done
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Add the egg mixture and bacon and toss with tongs until the pasta is coated, adding enough of the reserved water to form a creamy sauce. |
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7
Done
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Stir in half of the blue cheese. Serve immediately with more of the blue cheese on top. |
