Linguine Carbonara with Bacon and Crispy Brussels Sprouts
Linguine Carbona with Bacon and Crispy Brussels Sprouts is easy cozy comfort food! Linguine tossed with a sauce made from egg and Parmesan cheese - when you have no idea what to cook for dinner this simple pasta is a great bet.
Boil water for the pasta and cook according to package instructions. Make sure to reserve 1 cup of the cooking liquid before draining the pasta.
In a deep skillet cook the bacon until crisp and then set it aside on paper towels to drain. Remove any excess grease in the pan, leaving only about a tablespoon to cook the Brussels sprouts.
Add the olive oil to the skillet and let it heat up. Then add the garlic and let it cook over medium heat just long enough to be a little fragrant -- burned garlic is bitter so be careful. It will only need a minute. Add the Brussels sprouts and let them cook for about 5 minutes over medium to medium high heat until they are crispy and toasted. Remove the Brussels sprouts from the skillet and set aside for just a minute.
Leave the skillet off the heat. Pour in the eggs and the cooked linguine. Toss the pasta with the eggs to coat, adding a little of the cooking liquid to the pan just to move things around.
Add the cooked bacon and Parmesan cheese, tossing a little more to coat the pasta and mix it up well.
Top with the crispy Brussels sprouts and serve warm.
Notes
For leaner, meatier bacon and less grease to drain, go with a center cut (on the package labeling)
Careful when adding the eggs! You don't want the skillet to be too hot, or the eggs will scramble. The eggs should cook as they coat the pasta, not on the surface of the skillet itself.
You can test the heat of your skillet by adding just a very small amount of beaten egg and stirring it into the cooked pasta before adding in the rest.