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Spaghetti Carbonara is a decadent main dish perfect for a special occasion. Creamy, cheesy carbs with bacon too!
Shalom, friends!
I’m sharing a FABULOUS FABULOUS FABULOUS recipe with you today…one I had {again and again!!} on the Carnival Sunshine when I took a foodie cruise with some blogging friends with Carnival Cruise Lines last month!
I had never been on a cruise before, so I had no idea what to expect. Especially being 21 weeks pregnant. That’s a big kink in my normal, everyday travel plans.
But, when I first got the email inviting me on this foodie cruise, I KNEW I had to go. It sounded too good to be true, plus a lot of my blogging friends were going, so it was mixing business with pleasure.
The big push on the Sunshine was their remodeled ship with all these new and amazing restaurants. So, of course it was my duty to try ALL of the restaurants over the course of the 8 day cruise.
The things I do for you…
One of my very favorite restaurants I ate at was called Cucina del Capitano where I ordered everything off the menu plus the Spaghetti Carbonara.
YOU GUYS.
This pasta is magical. Never before have I had a carbonara so good! It was SO creamy and SO wonderfully perfect that I ate here twice!
Mama like.
Usually, I feel bad for eating SO MUCH heavy pasta, but not this time. It was too good to pass up. And guilt is overrated…and for the non-pregnant people.
I liked this pasta so much that I emailed my PR contact and asked for the recipe. {I miiiight have a slight addiction starting.}
Guess what, ya’ll. She gave it to me {!!!!!} and that is the recipe I’m sharing with you today.
Keep in mind this is a really decadent main dish, but don’t let that stop you from making it! It would be a perfect recipe for the holidays coming up or if you want to impress someone special! This is the recipe to pull out 🙂 It’s a good one!!
Thank you Carnival for hosting us!
Spaghetti Carbonara from the Sunshine Carnival Cruise
Ingredients
Optional Garnishes:
- fried oregano
- more grated parmesan
- fried strips of pancetta
Instructions
- Cut bacon into small pieces and dice onion finely. Heat a large pan over medium heat and render the fat from the bacon. Once it is crispy, remove from the pan and drain on paper towels. Set aside.
- Reduce heat to medium low and sauté onion in bacon grease without coloring until tender. In a large bowl, whisk egg with cream. Season with salt & pepper.
- While onion cooks, cook spaghetti until al dente. Drain and add hot pasta to pan with onions.
- Top with cream mixture, cooked bacon, parmesan cheese and butter and toss to completely coat pasta. {Might take a few minutes to get everything well coated.} Sauce should be very light. Garnish as desired with fried oregano, parmesan shaves & pancetta strips.
I’ve read this recipe half a dozen times and don’t see when to add all that Parmesan? Should it go in the cream mixture? I’m halfway thru this and stuck!
you’ll want to add it in when you’re tossing the hot pasta with the egg, cream and bacon.
Thank you for sharing the recipe! While I was making it for dinner tonight I looked at the ingredients that I prepared then realized I didn’t add the cheese!!!! So I just mixed at the end. It was delicious.
How do you fry oregano
[…] I found this recipe in my friend, Shawn’s new cookbook Express Lane Cooking. You may recognize Shawn from a few posts I’ve done recently. Her and a few other blogger friends and I traveled to Las Vegas and a Carribean Cruise! […]
When do you add the cheese? Also, are you melting the 4 oz. of butter?
when do you add the shredded cheese? I have also had this dish onboard and it is TO DIE FOR! Thank you for sharing the recipe!
I’m not familiar with having so much onion in Carbonara. Are you sure this is necessary? I’m concerned it won’t be family friendly with so much onion. Thanks.
Made this for the family and they loved it!
I can’t wait to try this with some friends!!! Sound yummy. Thank you for sharing ???
I went on a Carnival cruise. I recognized the pictures of this private island. Wonderful cruise.
I have always wanted to try this pasta but I’m afraid the egg will be raw. Does it cook?
Everything needs to be HOT when you toss it all together, especially the spaghetti! That way you know the egg cooks.
I’m surprised (and quite pleased) that they shared the recipe. This sounds so good and I’m another one that loves carbonara.
OMG, I made this pasta this evening and was given 5 stars from my family. Very good, thank you for sharing. This will make a great side dish to grilled chicken I think next time. xoxo
What does “in bacon grease without coloring until tender” mean? I don’t understand the “without coloring” part. 🙂 This sounds wonderful and I see it on our menu in the VERY near future! Thanks for sharing!!
You don’t want to brown the onions, basically, so the sauce stays white and doesn’t change to be a brown color.
I LOVE spaghetti Carbonara. When I worked at an Italian restaurant I ate it all the time. So good!
So you leave all the grease from the one pound of bacon in the pot? Just wanted to clarify
yes!
I think if I could have one dish for dinner it would be carbonara so thank you for sharing such a great recipe! I am going on a carnival cruise in January – can’t wait! Hope the food is as good on my ship as it is on the Sunshine!