Pasta is an easy dinner that we often enjoy in my home. On this particular day when I announced to my daughter that we would be having pasta, she requested carbonara. I enjoy carbonara in restaurants and was willing to give it a try. However, in my usual style, I made the meal with the ingredients I already had in my home.

On this particular day, I did not have pancetta or bacon. I did have some delicious Tina Evans-smoked meat in the freezer. I proceeded to chop the smoked meat into small pieces and fry it up in a pan with some garlic.

While the smoked meat and garlic were cooking, I boiled some pasta.

When the pasta was done, I drained it and put it in the pan with the smoked meat and garlic.  I coated the pasta with a mixture of pasta water, egg yolks, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.

I would add a little more smoked meat in the mix for next time, but this is definitely a dish I would try to recreate.

We had the pasta with a romaine salad, tomato salad (with tomatoes from our backyard), and of course, smoked meat.

Living Hilo Style.