#1 Easy Dinner

This is my favourite easy dinner. I've made it with no eggs, one egg, no milk, cream, sour cream, no alcohol, any alcohol lying around, no cheese, fetta (not rcommended!), spagetti, spirals, penne (my favourite), macaroni, proscuitto, leftover chicken, ham - I pretty much substitute as I like and if the basic flavours are there then it's delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 pound spaghetti
• 2 cups cubed (or cut up however you want it) pancetta rind removed (or proscuitto - but you need one of these heavily smoked meats to make this dish what it is)
  
• 2 teaspoons olive oil (I don't usually use this as the pancetta is usually fatty enough)
  
• 1/4 cup dry white wine or vermouth (or whatever...)
  
• 4 eggs (or one or two or three - I just make up the volume with the other liquid/cheese)
  
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• 1/4 cup heavy cream (or milk...)
  
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly ground nutmeg (I didn't even know this was here)
  

Directions

Put a large pan of water on to boil for the pasta.

In another large pan that will fit the pasta later, cook the pancetta cubes in the oil until crispy but not crunchy. Pour over the white wine or vermouth and let it bubble away so that, after a few minutes, you have a small amount of salty winey syrup left. Take the pan off the heat.

In a bowl, beat together the eggs, Parmesan, cream, and pepper. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, but since you want it kept al dente start checking it 2 minutes before end of the recommended cooking time.

When the pasta is done, remove approximately 1/2 cup of the pasta water before draining. Put the pan with the bacon cubes back on the heat and add the drained pasta, tossing well to coat with the syrupy pancetta. Take the pan off the heat again and add the eggs and cheese mixture, swiftly tossing everything to mix. (I usually leave it on the heat until I am almost satisfied with the consistency - but that's because I'm fussy and don't like runny egg whites...) Thin with pasta water, if needed. Grind over some more pepper and grate over the nutmeg to serve.

And in case you have read this far and you are still wondering - we just had this for dinner and I was thinking, "Gee that was good - I should share my swell dinner recipe."