Rachel Ray Blt-style Carbonara Pasta

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• 1 large tomato (ripe heirloom or 4 plum or roma tomatoes)
• 1 lb tagliatelle pasta noodles (or other wide, long-cut pasta)
• salt
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 lb bacon, chopped (lean, good quality or smoky speck or milder pancetta)
• 2 leeks, halved lengthwise and sliced 1/2-inch thick, washed and dried on clean towel
• 5 -6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 1 small chili pepper (such as fresno or italian cherry chili pepper)
• 1 cup dry wine
• 1 handful flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten (preferably organic)
• pecorino cheese (lots of it, freshly grated)

Recipe

• 1 bring a large pot of water to a boil. score an x into tomato skin, place in boiling water to a count of 30, then remove to a bowl of ice water with tongs or spider. peel, seed and chop tomato and reserve.
• 2 salt boiling water and cook pasta to al dente. heads up: you will need some starchy cooking water to temper the egg yolks, so reserve a cup or so before draining pasta.
• 3 meanwhile, heat a pan over medium to medium-high heat with evoo. add bacon, speck or pancetta, and cook until almost crisp. add leeks, garlic and chili, stir a couple of minutes then add wine and reduce by half. add parsley and tomatoes, and reduce heat to low.
• 4 when pasta is about ready, add about 1/2 cup starchy water to the eggs while beating them with a fork to temper them. toss pasta with bacon and eggs, turn off heat, then toss vigorously a full minute, using more starchy water if the pasta tightens up (the yolks should cover pasta smoothly).
• 5 serve with pecorino at the table for passing.