Traditional Carbonara & KETO Carbonara

​A delicious and surprisingly easy dish to make that I found to be almost equally delicious as leftovers, carbonara is a classic Italian dish I just recently discovered. I have 2 versions of it I will include, one is very traditional that is based off of Basics with Babish and the other is Adam and I’s own healthier spin on it that is equally delicious.

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Carbonara
Ingredients:
Spaghetti Noodles
Guanciale (or thick bacon)
4oz (or 8oz) shredded parmesan cheese
3 (or 4) eggs
1 egg yolk
Ground black pepper

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix and beat your 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk (we ended up adding a 4th egg when doing this), add ground pepper and 4oz of parmesan cheese (we used 8oz on accident). This is your sauce.
2. Set the sauce bowl aside post mixing and begin cooking your guanciale (or bacon if you didn’t have guanciale) on medium heat in a skillet, moving it around with tongs to keep it from burning.
   1. Start the bacon in a cold pan and bring to heat, as this will render out more fat.
3. Once the meat is fully cooked but not too crispy cut the heat and focus on the pasta.
4. Strain out the guanciale or bacon, keeping only about 1-2 Tbsp of fat in the pan with the guanciale or bacon.
5. After cooking your pasta (we used spaghetti) put it into the pan with the meat so it can absorb all of the remaining fats. Make sure to mix them well together with the tongs.
   1. Keep about a ¼ cup of the pasta water in to help make everything smoother, and help prevent the eggs from scrambling.   
6. *Quickly* pour in and rapidly mix together your egg and cheese sauce with the pasta.
   1. You have to work quickly because the only thing cooking the eggs is the heat of the pasta. Stir quickly to avoid accidental scrambled eggs!
7. Then plate it and Voila! You have delicious pasta carbonara.

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This next version of Carbonara we did not make KETO intentionally; Adam and I just wanted to make the dish again to have less calories but to still have the original flavor. We were skeptical at first, and when the noodles came out a little to runny we were nervous we'd wasted our time. After thinking of the idea to bake it we realized that that was the answer, and the dish was absolutely fantastic! My only regret - not taking more pictures of it.

Carbonara Casserole (Keto Friendly) 
Ingredients:
1 pre-baked Spaghetti Squash
1 11oz bag frozen zucchini noodles
1 package of thick bacon, cut into chunks
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
8oz shredded parmesan 
Ground black pepper

Directions:

1. To bake your spaghetti squash you’ll want to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut the squash in half, scoop out all of the seeds, then place it face down on a greased pan to bake for 30-40 minutes.
2. Once fully cooked scoop out the insides of the squash into a bowl with a fork and cover to keep it warm. Turn the oven down to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Cook the thick bacon chunks in a skillet at medium heat until fully cooked, but not crispy.
   1. Start the bacon in a cold pan and bring to heat, as this will render out more fat.
4. While cooking, beat together your egg/egg yolk-cheese mixture in a bowl until fully combined. Add black pepper to taste.
5. Cook/heat your zucchini squash as directed on the package and add it to the skillet with the bacon. Add in the spaghetti squash as well and stir together quickly to assure everything stays warm.
6. Cut the heat and add in your egg sauce mixture, continuing to stir and avoiding a scrambled egg situation (as it is meant to be a sauce). One fully stirred pour all of it into a baking dish of your choice (we chose a pretty small 10inx8in dish).
7. Bake the dish for 25-30 minutes, or until firm when shaken, remove from the oven and let cool before plating. Enjoy!

If we were to do this dish again, I think we would cook 2 spaghetti squash and leave out the zucchini noodles, but they did add a very mild flavor and the dish itself was fantastic! Plus it is Keto friendly which for some is a win-win.

As far as both dishes go, the traditional carbonara left overs do not keep quite as well as the casserole in reference to being re-heated, but both still taste delicious even a few days after!