Skip to main content

Orrechiette Carbonara

4.3

(66)

Image may contain Food Tortellini Pasta Dish Meal and Plant
Orrechiette CarbonaraLisa Hubbard

Eggs become a silky, creamy sauce when they're tossed with hot pasta. Here, leeks add a nice spring touch to the traditional Roman dish.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

4 applewood-smoked bacon slices, diced
2 medium leeks (white and pale green parts only), halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/3-inch pieces
10 ounces orecchiette (little ear-shaped pasta) or small shells
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus additional for serving
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel to drain. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons fat from skillet if necessary. Add leeks and sauté over medium heat until tender, about 6 minutes. Set aside.

    Step 2

    Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid.

    Step 3

    Whisk eggs and 1/2 cup Parmesan in medium bowl to blend; gradually whisk in 1/4 cup pasta cooking liquid. Add pasta to leeks in skillet and stir to heat. Remove skillet from heat. Pour egg mixture over pasta and stir until sauce is just creamy and eggs are no longer raw, about 2 minutes. (Return skillet to very low heat if egg mixture is runny; do not overcook or eggs will curdle.) Add some of remaining 1/4 cup pasta cooking liquid to pasta if needed to moisten. Stir in bacon and parsley. Serve pasta, passing additional cheese separately.

Read More
This classic carbonara traps crispy pancetta and all that silky sauce in big tubes of rigatoni.
Salty pancetta and briny marinated artichokes are a perfect match in this luscious pasta featuring pantry-friendly ingredients.
Turn humble onions into this thrifty yet luxe pasta dinner.
This brussels sprout pasta recipe taps nutty brown butter, crunchy pecans, and hot Italian sausage to create an easy dinner bursting with fall flavors.
Cooking down radicchio with vinegar and sugar until jammy is an eye-opening approach that reveals a world of options beyond salad.
Crispy, Parmesan-crusted cutlets make this spring dish sing.
Cabbage is the unsung hero of the winter kitchen—available anywhere, long-lasting in the fridge, and super-affordable. It’s also an excellent partner for pasta.
All the flavors of chicken piccata, only instead of meat, the dish is built upon plump potato gnocchi (the shelf-stable kind) in this no-boil one-pan recipe.