Marie used to make this dish and she got rave reviews from the family. The recipe I provide here may or may not be similar to hers but it is so delicious I have elevated it to the Food Nirvana status of Super Star. In short, you really want to make this stuff. You will get many compliments.
Per usual with pasta and sauce dishes, keep the pasta separated from the sauce. Let each guest put the two together in their own serving bowl. In that manner any leftovers can be packaged separately, which will retain the quality of the dish instead of having the pasta suck up the sauce liquid during refrigerator storage.
Ingredients: (Serves four)
1 lb. of Fettuccine noodles
1 pint of heavy cream
3 cups of milk (Start with 2 1/2 cups and add a final 1/2 cup if needed to keep the sauce from being too thick)
1 lb. of Prosciutto ham, defatted, either ground or sliced about 1/16th inch thick and torn or cut into pieces roughly 1" by 1".
1 cup of frozen or fresh peas (never, ever use canned peas!)
1 small sweet onion, chopped fine
2 large cloves of garlic, minced or very thinly sliced
1/4 cup of sun dried tomatoes, drained, wiped to remove any oil and cut into pieces roughly 1/4" on a side
1/2 cup of lengthwise halved ripe olives (optional)
2 tbsp. of butter
3 tbsp. of cornstarch
1/2 tsp. of white pepper
Sea salt (Use only if wanted after the completed dish is served to each guest)
Parmesan or Locatel cheese, freshly grated
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºF. Put a large sauce bowl, a large pasta bowl, and four wide shallow individual serving bowls into the oven.
Put 4 quarts of water and ½ tsp. salt into a six quart pot. Cover the pot with a lid and heat the water on high heat until it is boiling. Turn off the heat and keep the pot covered. This will facilitate later cooking of the pasta when the Carbonara sauce is done, as the water in the pot will still be hot and easy to bring back to a boil.
Melt the butter in a large (3 or 4 quart) skillet with high sides. Sauté the chopped onion on low heat until it is translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for one more minute.
Add the peas and the sun dried tomato pieces and the (optional) ripe olives and mix well on low heat. Add the pieces of Prosciutto ham and the white pepper and mix briefly.
Mix the pint of cream with 1 1/2 cups of milk in a bowl. Mix the cornstarch with one cup of milk in a separate bowl.
Add both bowls of milk/cream/cornstarch to the skillet slowly while stirring and heat on low heat to a scalding temperature (around 190ºF) until it is lightly steaming but not boiling.
The sauce may appear to be too thin, but note that it thickens after cooking. If the sauce is too thick then add the other one half cup of milk and mix well. Cover the skillet with a lid and turn off the heat.
Put the covered skillet into the warming oven.
Reheat the water in the pot to boiling on high heat and add the Fettuccine. Mix well after one minute to assure the pieces of Fettuccine do not stick together. Boil per the directions on the package.
When the Fettuccine is done cooking pour the pot contents into a colander in the sink to drain the Fettuccine. Rinse it briefly with cool water to eliminate excess starch (which could make it stick together), then let it drain for one minute and put the Fettuccine into the pre-warmed pasta serving bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it into the warming oven until serving time.
Pour the skillet contents into the pre-warmed large Carbonara sauce bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap and put it into the warming oven until serving time.
Serve the Fettuccine Carbonara using the pre-warmed individual serving bowls along with a dish of freshly grated Parmesan or Locatel cheese on the side for table use.
Guests can individually put Fettuccine into their serving bowl and then add the Carbonara sauce as desired, mixing both together and then adding the grated cheese.
Let each guest individually add salt if they want to adjust the seasoning.
Enjoy! This is a fine tasting and very filling dish. If you want to serve dessert, keep it light, like a sorbet or a fruity gelato.
Serve this meal with a chilled light white wine like a Pinot Grigio or a French White Burgundy.
A side salad with Italian dressing provides a fine taste contrast to the creamy Fettuccine Carbonara to make each bite provide maximum enjoyment. You might also serve some Italian bread and butter or olive oil or other dipping oil like the Carrabba's dipping oil in the Food Nirvana Appetizer section.