Spaghetti alla Carbonara

This recipe is one of our family favorites from a book called The Top One Hundred Pasta Sauces by Diane Seed, given to me almost twenty years ago by one of my best friends, Laura.

Ingredients
1 lb spaghetti
5 eggs
4 oz heavy cream
salt and black pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
7 oz streaky bacon
4 oz freshly grated Parmesan and pecorino romano, preferably half and half

Preparation
Beat the eggs and cream together with a pinch of salt*. Heat the oil and butter in a large pan. Add the diced bacon and cook gently until the fat becomes transparent. Cook the spaghetti, following packet directions carefully to avoid over-cooking. Drain the pasta and add it to the large bacon pan. Stir well. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the beaten eggs and cream and a small quantity of the cheese. The eggs will coagulate as they come into contact with the hot pasta so it is very important to work quickly. Stir until each strand of pasta is coated with a thick yellow cream. Now stir in the rest of the cheese and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Serve at once.

*Cook's note: Make sure to let your eggs and cream stand at room temperature for a couple of hours before making this dish, otherwise your pasta dish will be cold. (I learned this the hard way...)