Ok, I apologize in advance that this recipe doesn't really have any set quantities, but it's uber simple and I've yet to see anybody mangle it.
This sauce is really quick to cook, so prepare your pasta beforehand. I'd recommend a large pasta, like penne or linguine.
Ingredients:
450g Boneless skinless chicken breast
4-5 large mushrooms, cut in slices
2 shallots, sliced
freshly grated parmesan cheese†
1 cup 15% cooking cream
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1. cut chicken breast into small cubes and brown in olive oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside (about 4-5 minutes)
2. Add cream, parmesan and shallots. Bring to a simmer and let sauce thicken. (This is where you have to get a bit of a feel for it, but it's hard to really kill this sauce. You want the sauce to be thick enough to coat the noodles, but it shouldn't be clumpy. if the sauce is too runny, add more cheese. If it's too thick, just cut it with a bit of milk)
3. Toss pasta in sauce and serve immediately.
Now a real carbonara sauce uses pancetta (italian bacon), but the mix of bacon, cream and cheese is too much of a heart-attack special for me :) If you want to use bacon, cook it and drain off the grease before adding the mushrooms, but basically proceed normally for the rest.
&dagger: I strongly recommend getting a block of parmesan and grating it when you need it. It'll keep for a long time wrapped in saran wrap and the taste is worth the effort required to grate it. If you feel lazy, you can get the pre-grated stuff in the cheese counter of your grocery store. For god's sake, please don't use kraft or canned stuff you've had lying around forever :)