Pasta alla Carbonara is a world-known Italian recipe.
But how many, even in Italy, do know how to cook an excellent one? Not everyone, I can tell you.
If you aspire to make it, you'll need spaghetti, eggs, guanciale, pecorino cheese, olive oil and black pepper. Some recipes you'll find use tagliatelle. Please don't. Nor cream, onions, garlic.
Like most simple things, Carbonara demands a precise execution, or you'll have pasta with crumbled eggs instead of the creamy deliciousness.
So, as I already made all the mistakes we can, here's the step by step to cook a perfect one.
It's a fulfilling recipe and very quick to make. Enjoy it with a nice glass of red wine!
For four servings, you'll need :
500 gr of spaghetti ( try to get good quality ones )
150 gr of guanciale ( if you can't find guanciale, choose a piece of good quality bacon)
50 gr of freshly grated pecorino romano cheese
1 tsp of extra-virgin olive oil
Freshly grounded black pepper
Coarse salt
two eggs yolks and two whole eggs
Directions
First of all, you have to chop the guanciale ( or bacon) very finely.
Then put it in a large pan with 1 tbsp of olive oil, let cook very gently till the natural fat has sorted out, and the guanciale is lightly crispy for about 10 minutes.
Bring a large pot to the boil with 5 litres of water (you'll need 1 litre every 100 gr to cook pasta) and four teaspoons of salt. It is typically one teaspoon x litre, but pecorino romano is very salted. Add the spaghetti and let cook "al dente". In the meantime, break the eggs into a salad bowl big enough to contain the pasta. Whisk the egg yolks and the egg, add the Pecorino, 1/2 cup of the cooking water ( the water you are cooking pasta) and whisk to combine. By adding the water you won't need any cream, that's the secret.
When pasta is ready, drain it in a colander, but keep a cup of water if you need it, pour the spaghetti into the pan with the guanciale, toss well on medium heat. If it looks a bit dry, you can add some of the water you kept! Then add the pasta to the eggs and pecorino mixture in the bowl, mix quickly and thoroughly, ground some black pepper on top and eat immediately till warm.
It's essential to respect the final steps to avoid crumbling the eggs.
