We had another weekend potluck party planned. Instead of making Rose’s Filipino Style Spaghetti, we wanted to try something new. Where would the inspiration come from?

It came to me when I flipped through January’s copy of Bon Appètit and saw a recipe for Fettuccine Carbonara with fried eggs. The photo in the spread made the dish look delicious. I had to see if it tasted as good as it looked.

The recipe called for rabe broccoli and egg fettuccine. It was odd that our local Trader Joe’s didn’t have either. Perhaps I just overlooked it because I was too excited to make the dish. So, I opted to buy regular broccoli and instead of having smaller fettuccine pasta, I purchased larger pappardelle pasta. Time to get the stove fired up.

This recipe by Jill Silverman Hough was featured in Bon Appètit, January 2009:

Ingredients
8 large eggs
2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 oz thinly sliced pancetta (Italian bacon), finely chopped
12 oz egg fettuccine
1 medium bunch broccoli rabe (rapini), cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Preparation
Whisk 4 eggs, both cheeses, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in medium bowl; set aside. Cook pancetta in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 7 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to small bowl. Reserve skillet with drippings.

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender (about 3 minutes less than package directions); add broccoli rabe. Cook just until broccoli rabe is crisp-tender and pasta is tender, about 3 minutes longer. Drain pasta-broccoli rabe mixture, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Return hot pasta-broccoli rabe mixture to pot (off heat). Immediately add egg-cheese mixture, pancetta, and 1/4 cup hot cooking liquid; toss to combine, adding more cooking liquid by tablespoonfuls to moisten as needed. Season to taste with salt and more pepper, if desired. Cover to keep warm.

Heat skillet with drippings over medium heat. Crack remaining 4 eggs into skillet; sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook until whites are opaque, about 2 minutes. Carefully turn eggs over; cook just until whites are set but yolks are still soft, about 1 minute longer. Remove from heat.

I opted not to top the dish off with fried eggs. It still managed to be very delicious. I also enjoyed the fact that I was able to work with cheese as a main ingredient. Yes, you read that right, cheese. I don’t use it too often in my cooking. It was fun to try something new like that. That’s the beauty about cooking… You get to try new things and learn along the way.

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