Late Night..er..Early Morning Pasta

Last night Joey and decided to make Emeril's recipe for Late Night Pasta in order to use up some bacon we bought for the Ellie Beans we made last weekend. The ingredient list was so simple, that the only thing we had to buy was a shallot--and I suppose, in hindsight, we could've replaced it with an onion. The recipe seemed to me to be better described as "Spicy buttered noodles with bacon and garlic" but it still had a nice flavor and it was quick and easy.

Ingredients

• 1 pound pasta (I used half bowties and half curly macaroni)
  
• 4 slices bacon, cut into 1-inch strips
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (I think you could use less because of all the bacon grease)
  
• 2 tablespoons thinly sliced garlic
• 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (again, I'd use less because of the bacon grease)
  
• 1 large egg
• Parmesan cheese for serving
  

Directions

1. Cook pasta to al dente according to box instructions. Reserve 1/4 C pasta water. Drain pasta and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Add the garlic, shallots, pepper, and salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant and the garlic is soft but not brown, about 1 1/2 minutes.

3. Remove the pan from the heat and add the egg and reserved pasta cooking water, stirring quickly until the mixture thickens, but the egg does not scramble (our pan was really hot and so the egg scrambled, I recommend possibly cooling the pan a little bit first or perhaps adding the egg to the pasta water first).

4. Divide the pasta among bowls, sprinkle cheese to taste over the top of each serving, and serve immediately.