Spaghetti alla Carbonara
I
am a firm believer in Pride and am grateful to have spent most of my adult
life in locales – first The Village, now West Hollywood – where
our cultures live authentically and visibly. I am a veteran of too
many New York City Prides to count. Paging through my scrapbook, I
find pictures of myself and my husband, unaccountably young,
celebrating moments of the high holiday that is NYC Pride. In drag
giving serious Dusty Springfield realness or comical white trash slag
drag. Misbehaving shirtless atop a float blaring disco or dancing
streetside, somewhat blotto. John shouldering a video rig to record
the 25th reunion of the Gay Activist's Alliance. Myself
squiring out of town visitors to Chinatown, the Pier, the Met.
For,
yes, friends and family were and are at the heart of our Pride Celebrations. We always treated Pride with the same reverence as the
winter holidays. We took the week off from work and set aside money
for splurging on holiday fun. Friends and family gathered just as
they do at Thanksgiving for a week of celebration that included
special dinners, holiday excursions, even John's birthday. Pride Day
dawned with the excitement of Christmas morning. We got dressed as
outlandishly or comfortably as mood and the weather decreed. We
worked our way to the march route on subways packed with celebrants:
twinks virtually naked save glitter and wings, barrell-chested
daddies wearing harnesses and chaps, conservative guys in cargo
shorts and Mardi Gras beads. Somehow, friends always found us in the
throngs of spectators, even before cell phones. Sunburned, exhausted,
and jubilant, we worked our way to whichever of our local bars could
seat us, to regroup before hitting PrideFest and journeying home.
The
truest source of gay pride was always that Sunday evening. Back home,
weary but happy from the day's activities, we opened bottles of favorite wine and shared contentment, happiness, being together at
the holidays: John, myself, his sister and her girlfriend, my best
friend since time immemorial, our family of friends in the city. It
always transpired that at the end of that day, as we settled in with
our souvenirs and glasses of wine, we were hungry. The day's rations
couldn't hold up indefinitely; we needed sustenance. We worked our
way to the kitchen where I pulled together something to eat: a quick pizza, omelets, plates of charcuterie.
But
anyone who's raided a midnight fridge will tell you that a late-in-the-day holiday feed requires something substantial. I got into the
habit of making pasta, which is crowd-pleasing, relatively simple,
and celebratory. Sunburnt hands down, the favorite was Carbonara. It
is simple, satisfying, and, yes, caloric; the perfect meal to
recharge after a full day. It became our traditional meal to conclude
Pride Sunday with communion and wine, to go to bed with full bellies
and hearts only to awaken the next day and begin planning for next
year's festivities. Here, in honor of those wonderful people during
those wonderful times, is my recipe for Spaghetti alla Carbonara.
Spaghetti alla Carbonara
This
recipe serves two as a weeknight dinner or four as a shared
appetizer. Serve with a quick green salad and your favorite wine –
a buxom white such as Bridlewood Chardonnay or a classic Pinot Noir
such as Hitching Post or Loring.
1
box thick-cut spaghetti
½
pound diced pancetta
1
small yellow onion
2
large eggs
¼
cup heavy cream
½
cup grated Parmesan, plus extra for serving
Salt
Freshly
ground black pepper
Extra-virgin
olive oil
Cook
the pasta
- Fill a large pot ¾ with water. Add a generous sprinkling of salt to the water.
- Turn the burner to medium high. Once the water reaches a full boil, separate ½ of the pasta from the box of spaghetti. Add the half-box of spaghetti to the boiling water, swirling the spaghetti into the water to keep them from sticking.
- Turn the heat to medium and cook the spaghetti until al dente, approximately 8 – 10 minutes.
Cook
the onion and pancetta
- Peel and chop the onion to equal ½ cup diced.
- Pour a five-count of extra-virgin olive oil into a large saute pan. Add the onion and pancetta to the oil.
- Turn the burner to medium-low. Cook the onion-pancetta mixture until the onions are translucent and caramelized and the mixture is very fragrant, about 5 minutes.
Make
the Carbonara mixture
- Use an egg separator or the shells to separate the eggs. Work over a small bowl to catch the whites of the eggs.
- Place the yolks into a large mixing / serving bowl and cover and refrigerate the whites for another usage.
- Use a whisk to mix the egg yolks until they are thick and foamy.
- Sprinkle the yolks with a dash of salt. Use one hand to whisk the yolks while using the other hand to add the cream in a thin stream. Whisk the yolk-cream mixture until it is thick and pale, and no yellow or white streaks remain.
- Add the grated Parmesan and several grindings fresh black pepper to the cream mixture. Whisk the Carbonara until no chunks of Parmesan remain.
- Cover the Carbonara and refrigerate until ready to assemble the pasta.
Assemble
and serve the Spaghetti Carbonara
- Once the spaghetti is cooked to al dente, carefully drain the pasta to avoid burns.
- Remove the Carbonara from the refrigerator and uncover the bowl.
- Transfer the drained pasta to the cooked onion-pancetta mixture. Working quickly, use tongs to swirl the pasta and the mixture together until the pasta has picked up all of the onion, oil, and pancetta.
- Carefully tilt the pan containing the pasta over the bowl containing the Carbonara. Gently shake the pan so that the pasta slides into the Carbonara, stirring the Carbonara as the pasta slides into it both to coat the pasta and to keep the sauce from curdling. The hot pasta-pancetta mixture will cook the egg-cream mixture as you stir them together.
- Once the pasta and Carbonara are thoroughly incroporated, serve immediately with grated Parmesan and black pepper.
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