This carbonara is decadent, rich, and earthy with dry-cured bacon, parmesan, leeks, and a generous amount of shaved black truffle.
If you’ve been reading this blog, you know that most of my recipes are easy and accessible for the home cook. This recipe is easy, but I do recognize that truffles are not the most accessible ingredient. That being said, I’ve been stuck inside with my family on this Labor Day Weekend because of hazardous wildfire smoke, I randomly came into a windfall of truffles courtesy of Staci, aka The Truffle Huntress, from Tesoro Mio Truffle Ranch, and this is my escapism. So indulge me in this completely impractical, decadent version of carbonara.
If this recipe looks fun but you don’t have access to a fresh truffle, feel free just to use it for inspiration and play around with adding other fancy (or not so fancy) mushrooms (porcini, oyster, beech, chestnut, portabella, etc) when you sauté the leeks and garlic. You could also try using truffle salt or truffle oil. Just be aware that a lot of truffle oils are made from synthetic “truffle flavor”.
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Truffle Carbonara
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 15
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2–4 servings 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stove top
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
A decadent carbonara with black truffle, leeks, dry-cured bacon, and parmesan.
Ingredients
1/2 lb pasta
1/2 cup pasta water (set aside after cooking pasta)
1 cup chopped leeks
1/2 cup chopped dry-cured bacon (or store bought)
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup grated parmesan
3 garlic cloves
1 T thyme
shaved fresh truffle
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook according to the package directions. Measure out the pasta water for the sauce and set aside before draining the pasta.
Meanwhile over medium heat, sauté the bacon until crispy. If the bacon is on the leaner side, you may need to add 1 Tablespoon oil to the pan. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper towel. Leave the bacon fat in the pan.
In a small bowl, combine the egg yolks and the grated parmesan and stir well.
Sauté the leeks and garlic with the fresh thyme leaves over medium heat until tender and transparent. About 5 minutes. Add a splash of the pasta water. NOTE: Pasta water should be hot but not boiling at this point.
Remove from the heat, then gradually add the egg mixture while stirring constantly. Then stir in the rest of the pasta water and continue stirring until the sauce is smooth. Add the cooked noodles (noodles should still be hot too) and combine well with the sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
Shave truffles onto the pasta and stir, reserving a couple of shavings for garnishing the plate.
Serve and add the reserved truffle shavings on top.
Enjoy!!
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