(Recipe can be found at Cooking Light’s site here.)
Step by Step Instructions:
You don’t need much to throw this delicious pasta dish together: 2 medium-sized Leeks, uncooked Spaghetti, Salt, Pepper, 2 Eggs (1 whole egg, 1 egg white), chopped Parsley, 1/2 cup of grated Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese, 2-3 ounces of diced Pancetta, Minced Garlic. *Please ignore the above Olive Oil. I must have had another recipe in mind when I set this aside. 🙂
I began by putting a large pot of water on the stove to boil. While the water boiled, I prepped my leeks. I began by slicing each leek lengthwise and cut off the white root end as you see above.
Then I sliced the leeks very thinly and stopped as I got near the green part of the leek. The green sections is very tough, so you don’t want to eat it.
Then I placed the sliced leeks in a large bowl about 3/4 full of water and used my fingers to shake up the leeks a bit to help the dirt sediments to separate from the leeks. The idea is that the dirty sediments sink to the bottom and the clean leeks float at the top. Let them soak for a couple of minutes.
Once the leeks are dirt-free, I carefully scooped the floating leeks and piled them on a plate lined with paper towels to help them dry a bit. Then they get set aside until I need them.
About this time, the water was boiling and the pasta gets added and cooked according to the package’s directions.
While the pasta cooks, it’s time to put the sauce together…I love multitasking! Makes me feel so darned efficient! Anyhoo, in a small bowl, add 1 egg plus 1 egg white, along with the 1/2 cup of grated Parmiggiano Reggiano, along with 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper and 1/8 teaspoon of salt.
Then whisk the ingredients together.
Before I drained the pasta, I reserved 1/4 cup of the pasta water.
Then I slowly poured that pasta water into the small bowl and whisked constantly. The idea is to temper the eggs so that they do not scramble on you. So pour that water very slowly and whisk, whisk, whisk.
Now it’s time to really cook. In a large pan over medium-high heat (about 6 on my stove), I added the diced pancetta to the hot pan. If you can’t find pancetta, I’m sure bacon would be equally delicious. You just get more of a bite with the pancetta…yum!
Then cook the pancetta for a few minutes until they are nice and crispy. Once the pancetta is crispy you can carefully remove the pancetta from the pan and place them on a plate. Keep as much of the drippings in the pan because that’s what the dish gets cooked in.
Now once the pancetta is set aside, add the pancetta and stir it for about 4 minutes until they are starting to soften.
Then add 2 minced garlic cloves and saute another minute. I used the jarred minced garlic just because it saves me time, but by all means mince your own garlic if you’d like.
Finally lower the heat to low, and add the cooked pasta, the pancetta, and the sauce to the pan and stir it up until it’s well combined. Seriously your kitchen will smell amazing!
Then serve up the pasta immediately and top with some freshly chopped parsley and dig in. Warning: You may go back for seconds or thirds, but don’t worry, the leftovers are really good, too! So freaking good!
Ingredients:
8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
1/2 cup (2 ounces) finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/2 cup chopped pancetta (about 2 ounces)
2 cups thinly sliced leek (about 2 large)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Preparation Instructions:
1. Cook pasta according to the package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking liquid.
2. Combine cheese, pepper, salt, egg, and egg white in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Gradually add the reserved 1/4 cup cooking liquid to egg mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk.
3. Cook pancetta in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove pancetta from pan, reserving drippings in pan; set pancetta aside. Add leek to drippings in pan, and sauté 4 minutes. Add garlic to pan; sauté for 1 minute. Add pasta, cheese mixture, and pancetta to pan; reduce heat, and cook 1 minute, tossing well to coat. Cook 1 minute. Sprinkle with parsley; serve immediately.
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