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["Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so that the heat of the pasta cooks the raw eggs in the sauce.", "Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender yet firm (as they say in Italian ""al dente.""). About two to three minutes before the pasta is ready, throw the frozen peas into the boiling water with the pasta. Drain well, reserving 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce if you wish.", "Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium flame. Add the fake bacon for about 3 minutes, being careful not to overcook (the bacon gets hard and crispy this way). Remove the bacon from the heat and cut into small pieces.", "Using the leftover bacon-y olive oil still in the pan, heat up the garlic and saute until fragrant.", "Add the hot, drained spaghetti and peas to the pan and toss for 2 minutes to coat the strands. Toss in the fake bacon and the smoked cheese, mix well.", "Beat the eggs and Parmesan together in a mixing bowl, stirring well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure this does not happen.) Thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency.", "Season the carbonara with several turns of freshly ground black pepper and taste for salt. Mound the spaghetti carbonara into warm serving bowls. Pass more cheese around the table."]
