Six-Ingredient Spaghetti Carbonara

Daddy has to work late tonight (Go Lakers!) so it's just me and the girls. Of course, if I ask them what they would like for dinner, I'd get the standard response, "Pasta!" It's weird – the girls prefer white sauce over red. So I think I'll mix it up tonight and make a six-ingredient spaghetti carbonara with whatever I can find in the pantry.

Ingredients
1 lb pancetta or bacon
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 eggs
½ C freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 lb thin spaghetti
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Place a large pot of water on the stove to boil. When water is rolling, add salt and pasta and cook to al dente, about 8 to 11 minutes, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water.

While pasta cooks, heat large skillet over moderate heat. Sauté pancetta/bacon in a drizzle of oil until it browns, 3 to 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon remove meat from skillet and drain, removing excess oil. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.

Beat together eggs and cheese.

Drain pasta. Add pasta to pan with sautéed garlic. Remove skillet from heat. (This is important. Otherwise, if you keep skillet heated and add the egg mixture, you will get scrambled eggs.). Add egg mixture and toss 1 minute. Continue to toss until egg mixture/sauce is absorbed by and thickly coating the pasta. Stir in a ladle of the boiling pasta water to thin out the sauce if needed. Add pancetta/bacon and toss again. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper and serve with extra cheese, for passing.