The first time I ever ate Italian food in Japan, I went to a restaurant called “Italian Tomato”. I tried their signature dish, spaghetti with carbonara sauce. It was so good- creamy and delicious with plenty of cheese and pork- that I decided that I needed to be able to prepare this dish at home anytime I wanted to.
Since that day nearly 30 years ago, I have prepared this dish countless times, tweaking the recipe to get it just right. Most people are surprised to find out that this creamy pasta does not contain any cream. The egg and the fat from the pork combine to form a silky sauce and the cheese melts in to complete the dish. I also found that adding garlic to the pancetta provide just the right flavor to round out the dish.
I also like to serve this dish with cracked black peppercorns- the pancetta is quite salty on its own so no additional salt is needed.
Enjoy this quick and easy pasta anytime you want – and please let me know in the comments how you like it!
