This is one of those dinners that can come together very quickly, so it helps to have everything ready. After you've tried it once, you can find your rhythm for preparing the sauce, pasta, and meat simultaneously. It will soon become one of your fast and easy go-to recipes!
Author: Alisa Fleming
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: Italian
Serves: 5 servings
Ingredients
¼ cup raw cashews (see post above for nut-free options)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
¾ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
16 ounces dry spaghetti (see note above about gluten-free)
12 ounces bacon OR 8 ounces pancetta or guanciale, sliced or diced
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
Bring a large pot of water to boil.
In a spice grinder, food processor, or blender (preferably a smaller blender cup if you have one), grind the cashews, nutritional yeast, and salt until powdered.
Add the eggs and ground cashew mixture to a medium bowl, and whisk until smooth. (You can optionally sift the cashew mixture into the bowl through a fine mesh sieve to remove any nut bits.)
Cook the diced or sliced meat in a large skillet until it begins to crisp. Drain off all but about 2 tablespoons of the grease and turn the heat off.
While the meat cooks, and the pasta to the boiling water and cook until al dente. Once ready, reserve about 1 cup of the pasta water, and then drain the pasta. Do not rinse it.
While whisking vigorously, slowly pour about ⅓ cup of the hot reserved pasta water into the egg-cashew mixture to temper it.
Add the pasta to the meat in your skillet, pour on the egg-cashew mixture, and immediately begin tossing to coat. It's important that you act quickly with this step.
Add more pasta water, as needed, to keep the pasta moist as the sauce thickens.