Linguine alla Carbonara

I'd never heard of carbonara until I cracked open jamie's italy when I received it last Christmas, but it immediately appealed to me.  Eggs and pasta...what's not to love?  In the ten months between the initial inspiration and finally making an opportunity to whip it up, I had a couple of chances to try some other renditions of pasta alla carbonara.  I was not impressed.  But I was confident that Jamie and I could turn out a more appetizing product than the bland, sticky versions that didn't do much to recommend themselves.

That said...I didn't follow Jamie's instructions to the letter.  In fact, I drastically, and accidentally, altered the sauce/pasta ratio by failing to notice, when doubling the recipe to serve eight, that the original called for a whole pound of pasta rather than the eight ounces that I assumed would feed four people.  But really, this was not too much sauce and I seriously wonder why anyone would make it with less.  In addition to the inadvertent reduction of linguine, I ended up making a few substitutions due to not having shopped with this dish in mind, most notably, using bacon instead of pancetta and a mixture of half and half and milk instead of heavy cream.

Overall, I found the changes wholly successful and would make this again without any curiosity as to how it is supposed to turn out...with one final tweak: I would completely omit the lemon zest.  You may like the bright citrus zing, (as my mom does) in which case, you should definitely leave it in, but my tongue considers the addition of lemon in savory dishes out of place.  I would compare it to finding a banana in a box of books.

Linguine alla Carbonara
adapted from Jamie Oliver's linguine alla carbonara di salsiccia
serves 4-8, depending on how much you like pasta, how hungry you are, and whether the moon is waxing or waning (not really on the moon bit)

4 Italian sausages
8 slices of bacon, sliced
salt and pepper
1 lb. linguine
8 large egg yolks
1 cup half and half
7 oz. freshly grated parmesan, divided
zest of 1 lemon (like I said, not a fan. middle sister and little brother agree)
a sprig of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (I admit it. I didn't want to go out in the rain to harvest a sprig of parsley, so I left it out. No one noticed, but it would certainly bring a fresh scent, especially if you decide to forego the lemon)

Strip the sausages from their casings and, with wet hands, shape them into marble-sized meatballs.  Set a large pot of salted water to boil.  Heat a large frying pan and cook the bacon until most of the fat has rendered out and the bacon is at the pleasantly chewy stage.  Scoop it out and set it aside, leaving enough fat in the pan to fry the meatballs, and draining the rest.  Gently fry the meatballs in a single layer, in batches if necessary, removing cooked meatballs to be set aside with the bacon.  If subsequent batches start sticking, you can add a little olive oil.  Add the linguine to the boiling water and cook according to package directions.

In a large bowl, whip up the egg yolks, half and half, half the parmesan, lemon zest, and parsley.  At this point I scooped out some of the pasta water and drizzled into the egg mixture, whisking it as I poured, the idea being to slightly temper the eggs and lessen the chance of scrambling the eggs when they get tossed with the pasta.  Not sure if it did anything.  You can skip that if you want.  When the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water, and immediately toss it quickly with the egg mixture back in the pasta pot.  Add the hot sausage meatballs and toss everything together.  The egg will cook delicately from the heat of the linguine, just enough for it to thicken and not scramble.  The sauce should be smooth and silky.  If the pasta becomes a little sticky add a few spoonfuls of the reserved cooking water to loosen it slightly.  Sprinkle over the rest of the parmesan, season if necessary, and eat immediately!  Plates optional.