There's a show on the Food Network channel called, The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Have you seen it or ever tried to answer that question yourself? Well every time I have watched this show and tried to think up my own answer, it literally felt impossible. The chefs they were interviewing were picking that one item, I could never just choose one...until a night Florence, Italy. My mind was blown as I took my first bite into the most delicate and juicy swirl of pasta my fork has ever presented to me. This magical plate of pasta was in a way simple, yet the most pleasurable indulgence of linguine I could ever imagine. The bowl was lined with a dark, soft smoked goose prosciutto and over top was a homemade linguine with black truffles and parmesan cheese. It melted in my mouth and it was unlike any dish I've ever experienced. After all, I don't have a goose to make smoke prosciutto, I also don't have those yummy, local Tuscan black truffles. So, I used that experience and everything I described as inspiration for this new recipe. I obviously changed it quite a bit, but I did so in a way that made sense. I put together a classic Roman carbonara, in which doesn't contain cream, it is just an egg and cheese mixture. The one thing I did change there was I didn't add the traditional guanciale. Instead, I thought it would be a nice twist to line the plate with prosciutto as the recipe's pork. I then topped the pasta with a nest of cheese holding a poached egg that would send the yolk oozing into the noodles making it that much creamier. If you just want to make the classic carbonara, then find some guanciale, high quality eggs, rigatoni and Pecorino Romano. I have that recipe below, enjoy!

Ingredients

Classic Roman Carbonara:

• 1 lb. rigatoni or spaghetti

• 4 large eggs

• 2 egg yolks

• 1.5 cup grated Pecorino Romano

• 1 cup diced guanciale , about 8oz

Optional:

• thinly sliced prosciutto

• eggs to poach, 1 per serving

Instructions

If you are creating the exact dish from the picture and video, skip (step 1) the frying guanciale part and line a dish with prosciutto instead. Follow the pasta part as stated below. Serving into bowls. Place a poached egg on top of a bed of grated cheese, then crack freshly ground black pepper and sprinkle some fresh parsley.

1. In a large pan, fry the guanciale over medium heat until crispy. Then remove from heat and let cool.

2. Meanwhile, start boiling the pasta water.

3. Beat eggs and pecorino together in a small bowl with a fork and set aside. Add a ladle of pasta water and stir.

4. Cook the pasta until al dente, then add the pasta to the pan with the guanciale. Turn heat to low and toss to combine.

5. Pour the egg and cheese mixture over pasta, continuously toss until the mixture becomes a creamy sauce. This will create a creamy like sauce without scrambling the eggs.

6. Serve immediately.

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