Linguine alla Carbonara with Italian Sausage Meatballs

Instructions

In a 10 to 12-inch skillet, add the bacon. Cook over medium to medium-low heat stirring occasionally. Once bacon is crispy, use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside.

Meanwhile, remove the casing from (hot or mild) Italian sausage. Then roll small pieces (about 1 to 2 teaspoons) in the palm of your hands to form little bite-size meatballs.One pound of Italian sausage should yield about 30 meatballs depending on the size.

If there's not a lot of bacon fat in the pan, add a little bit of olive oil and add the meatballs. Working in batches if necessary. Brown the sausage balls on all sides, until they are cooked throughout - about 15 minutes.

Brown the sausage balls on all sides, until they are fully cooked. Once the sausage balls are cooked through, add 3 sliced cloves of garlic and stir until the garlic is aromatic, soft and lightly golden, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the sausage balls to paper towel lined plate to drain.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted (a small palmful of fine sea salt) water to boil. Once boiling, stir in the linguine pasta and cook following the package directions. For me it was 10 minutes.

Next, in a large bowl add egg yolks, cheese, lemon zest, a pinch of kosher salt and a generous amount of black pepper. Then stir well to combine.

Once the past is cooked, do not drain! Instead, use tongs to remove the pasta from the pasta water and immediately transfer to the egg and cheese mixture. If some pasta water gets in there, that's okay! It will help thin the sauce.

Toss the hot pasta into the egg mixture until evenly coated in the sauce and cheese has melted. The hot pasta will gently cook the egg, yielding a luscious velvety sauce.

Next, add in the peas, cooked bacon, sausage and garlic. Toss well to combine. If you want to loosen the sauce up a bit, add a little pasta water at a time until you reach a desired consistency.

Use tongs to serve pasta into individual bowls and top with minced fresh parsley and freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese.

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