Pasta Without Tomato- Old

This is a carbonara-pasta hybrid for the cook with no tomatoes in the house. Instead of red sauce, a beaten egg whisked into hot, fatty pasta creates a silky, creamy coating that clings to every strand. The same trick the Romans use, applied to ground beef and mushrooms instead of guanciale.

The pasta blend itself is the unusual move: spaghetti broken into thirds plus rotini, cooked together. The spaghetti slightly overcooks and releases starch that thickens the sauce, while the rotini holds its shape and traps the beef-and-mushroom mixture in its spirals. Two textures from one boil.

When you add the beaten egg, working fast is everything. The egg goes into a well in the pasta over moderately high heat and gets stirred constantly, this cooks the egg into a glossy sauce rather than scrambling it into curds. If your pan runs hot, lower the heat slightly and keep stirring.

A quarter cup of grated parmesan at the end finishes the sauce, salty and sharp, doing what cheese always does to good carbonara.

Pro Tips

• Do not rinse the pasta after draining. The starchy surface is what helps the egg-and-cheese mixture cling and emulsify.
• Slightly pre-beat the egg with the extra teaspoon of olive oil before pouring into the pasta. The oil helps emulsify and prevents the egg from cooking too fast on contact.
• Use a wooden spoon to stir, metal can transfer heat unevenly and scramble the egg.
• Serve immediately, the egg sauce continues setting up as the pasta sits and gets gummy if held too long.

Variations

• Substitute Italian sausage for the ground beef for a more aggressive savory profile.
• Add a splash of dry white wine after browning the meat for deglaze and depth.
• Stir in chopped sun-dried tomatoes or capers for a punchier finish without going full red sauce.