Spaghetti With Sausage Alla Carbonara

This is a lovely, satisfying pasta dish and there is no tomato sauce (what a concept)!  I pan-fried Genoa salami (delicious) and used it instead of sausage.  Obviously, with that salami, I didn't need any salt.  I had never had pecorino cheese before.  I loved its strong, tart quality.  It went perfectly with the salami.

4 servings

25 calculated points

Merlot, Cabernet Franc

Ingredients

• 1 pound sweet Italian sausage
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 medium onion, sliced thin
• 1½ teaspoons pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ cup dry white wine
• Salt
• 1 pound spaghetti
• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup pecorino Romano

Directions

Remove casings from sausage. Using a knife, a fork or your hands on a cutting board, break meat into small pieces. Heat oil and butter in a large skillet. Add onion and cook on medium-low just until translucent.

Add sausage, mashing and breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it is uniformly crumbly and has lost its pinkness. Stir in the pepper and bay leaves. Add wine and cook until it has nearly evaporated, about 2 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and discard bay leaves. Season meat to taste with salt.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti until al dente, 6 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, fill a large serving bowl with hot water or warm it in a low oven. Lightly beat the eggs in a small dish. Just before pasta is done, return pan with sausage to low heat. When pasta is done, slowly beat about a tablespoon of pasta water into eggs. Then drain the pasta.

Transfer sausage to warm serving bowl. Pour spaghetti on top and toss it with the sausage, slowly adding the beaten eggs. Add salt to taste and fold in the pecorino.