Fresh Cavatelli with Eggs & Bacon

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter 
• 1.5 pounds cavatelli pasta dried fresh
• 5 large eggs 
• 2 cups fontina shredded
• 0.3 teaspoon kosher salt plus more for the pasta pot
• 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin extra-virgin
• 1 stick bacon 
• 1 large soup noodles 
• 8 ounces bacon thick-cut cut in 1/2-inch pieces

Equipment

• bowl
• frying pan
• pot

Directions

1. Fill a large pot with salted water (at least 6 quarts water with 1 tablespoon salt), and heat to a boil.
2. Pour the olive oil into the skillet, and set it over medium-high heat. Drop in the butter, let it melt, then scatter in the bacon pieces. Cook the bacon, stirring and tossing the pieces, for 5 minutes or so, until they're crisp and caramelized. (If the bacon rendered lots of fat, you can pour off half the fat in the pan.)
3. Beat the eggs and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl until well blended.
4. When the water is at a rolling boil, drop in the cavatelli, stir, and return the water to a boil. Cook the cavatelli 4 to 5 minutes, until al dente, lift them from the pot, drain briefly, and spill them into the skillet.
5. Over medium heat, toss the cavatelli with the bacon pieces, coating the past with the oil, butter, and bacon fat, too.
6. Pour the beaten eggs all over the pasta, stirring and tumbling them together; keep scraping the coagulating egg from the sides and bottom of the pan, and incorporate it in with the wet eggs. Cook for a minute or two, just until all the egg is lightly cooked and custardy and evenly scrambled into the cavatelli.
7. Turn off the heat, scatter the shredded fontina over the eggs and pasta, and toss thoroughly to blend in the cheese as it melts.
8. Serve immediately.
9. From Lidia Cooks from the Heart of Italy: A Feast of 175 Regional Recipes by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali. Published by Knopf. Copyright © 2009 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali.