Dark Days - Week #3

One of our go-to meals. Typically I judge all Italian restaurants by their Carbonara.
You can use bacon, but the guanciale just gives it a greater depth of flavor. Guanciale is very easy to make, just take a pork jowl and salt (and spice) cure it in the fridge for a week and then hang it in a cool (under 60 degrees) location for a month to dry out.
Only make enough of this receipe for the meal as it does not reheat. Should be served immediately.
Fettuccini Carbonara
1 pound fettuccini (home made from Red Mill white and semolina flour, Sky Valley Farm eggs)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (not local)
4 ounces guanciale or slab bacon, cubed or sliced into small strips (cured from Carlton Farms pork jowl)
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (not local)
2 large eggs (Sky Valley Farm)
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for serving (not local, but purchased from Calf and Kid, a local cheese shop in Seattle)
Freshly ground black pepper (not local)
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (we omitted since ours died in our front yard)
Directions
Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the fettuccini spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian "al-dente”.") Drain the pasta well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the guanciale and saute for about 3 minutes, until it is and the fat is rendered. Toss the garlic into the fat and saute for less than 1 minute to soften.
Add the hot, drained fettuccini to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands in the guanciale fat. Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the fettucini carbonara into warm serving bowls and garnish with chopped parsley. Pass more cheese around the table.
Adapted from Tyler Florence, serves 4-6 people
Served with local bread.