I first learned how to make spaghetti carbonara the summer I worked at an Italian restaurant, and got engaged. The restaurant and husband are both long-gone, but it was a delicious time and a delicious dish. Dorie’s remake of the recipe sounded like a lot of fun with its substitution of steamed onions for the more typical spaghetti. To be a bit picky, this is not a recipe without carbs, it is, however, a recipe without starches (a pound of onions comes in at about 180 calories, mostly, well, carbohydrates). That does not take away from the virtue of the recipe, since onions are good for us, and of course, it’s pretty delicious!
This is the same general idea as the more traditional recipe:
The onions get sliced and steamed, the bacon crisped and cut up into strips.
I’d kind of forgotten, but the butter is melted in the pan, bacon added, and then some cream. Once that’s ready, the onions are added to heat through.
Once the onions are hot, the mixture of the egg yolk and cream are added along with pepper and a bit of salt. This is all mixed together until it just barely begins to thicken and get creamy – adding the Parmesan at the end.
It’s ready to serve at this point, as Dorie suggests next to a Christmas goose. Since this was going to be my main course, I opted for a bit of pasta along with – as recommended in the Bonne Idee.
This was actually quite delicious. I happen to love onions, so for me it was tasty, but I do think this would be particularly good with a roast, chop or steak. As well, I found that the dish did reheat well enough, so that was nice, since even cutting back a bit, it was a bit more than a meal.
dulceshome 
I think this was my first encounter with carbonara.
And sometimes, I find that the memories (at least some of them) can be better than the reality 🙂
We love onions, too! So, this looks VERY inviting and easy enough to make. Thanks for these great tips!
dulceshome posted: “I first learned how to make spaghetti carbonara the summer I worked at an Italian restaurant, and got engaged. The restaurant and husband are both long-gone, but it was a delicious time and a delicious dish. Dorie’s remake of the recipe sounded like a lot”
I had to giggle at your second sentence. Priceless. Definitely not a guilt free dish, but truly yummy! Happy New Year, Candy!
I haven’t attempted this yet but I make carbonara A LOT. Some might even say it’s my signature dish. I’m definitely intrigued.
Your dish looks delicious!
I applaud you as one of the Doristas who realized this was not a carb-free dish but still was able to read the Bonne Idee and include more carbs, pasta —– it made for a fantastic dinner, didn’t it. I think only three of us used the onion carbonara as the topping. I loved it and certainly will try it again. Your pictures were a great addition to this post.