Penne alla carbonara

Eastside Road, June 10, 2012—

I KNOW: IT'S NOT quite authentic. Pasta alla carbonara should be made with spaghetti. But Lindsey likes penne, and penne is what we have. I beat three smallish eggs with a half cup of grated parmagiano, some salt, and plenty of good black pepper, while she boiled up the pasta and fried some slices of pancetta — good pancetta, made by Franco Dunn, whose sausage we always favor.

Drain the pasta, toss it in the egg mixture, add the bits of pancetta and toss again. Nothing to it. Green salad afterward, and then a mess of strawberries.

Vermintino, Epicuro (Lazio), 2011