Sweet Onion Carbonara

Do you ever see a recipe or watch some food TV and think I need to go to the store right now and get the ingredients to make that right now? Well that happened to me when I was watching Food Network!   Giada
De Laurentiis was making this amazing dish! Jim and I both loved this! Jim went back for seconds almost immediately and dinner time was very quiet. We all know what that means! Delicious dinner!! If you can’t find pancetta you can also use bacon but the pancetta really is perfect in this dish as it adds so much flavor and crisp texture.

INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoon olive oil
4 ounces pancetta, chopped
1 large onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of minced garlic
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
4 large eggs
1 pound rigatoni
Fresh cracked black pepper

DIRECTIONS
Heat oil in a large frying pan on medium heat.  Add the pancetta and sauté until brown and crisp. About 8 minutes, remove pancetta from the pan and set aside.  Add the onions to the same pan you used for the pancetta and cook until golden brown and lightly carmelized. This will take about ten minutes. Add the garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, cook two more minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl combine and whisk the Gruyere, whipping cream, Parmesan, lemon zest, eggs and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Meanwhile bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt and add the rigatoni and boil on high until the rigatoni is al Dente about 8-10 minutes. Drain but, RESERVE ONE CUP OF PASTA WATER. Add the pasta back into the pot along with the onions, cream mixture, 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water and the pancetta.  Toss over low heat until the sauce is thick and coats the pasta. Adding pasta water as needed (I only used 1/4 cup). This only takes about two minutes. Do not boil.  Season pasta with fresh cracked paper and serve warm.

Enjoy!