“The Carbonara” is one of the most famous italian racipe and probabily the most imitated. Abroad, I saw many restaurants offering dishes so far to be considered a real carbonara.
But is it so difficult to prepare it? No It is easy, but you need to follow very simple rules.
So lets start from the ingredients (for my version):
Ingredients (for 4 persons)
- 360g spaghetti (or another kind of pasta, if you want)
- 250g guanciale (pancetta) or smoked bacon
- 3 yolks and one whole egg
- 100g grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino
- salt
- black pepper
Preparation
Bring a large pan of water to the boil ( consider one litre for 100g of pasta…so in this case 4 litres). You will need at least 4 litres for this amount of pasta.
When the water starts to boil, add two teaspoon (full) of coarse salt and throw in the pasta. Attention: control that all the spaghetti sink in the boiling water at the same time..without break them! The best way is to hold them in a bunch vertically and sink them.
When the pasta I nearly ready, roast the diced pancetta for 2 minutes in a nonstick pan.
See in the packaging the cooking time. Drain the pasta one minute before the timing specified.
Off the heat, prepare a large serving bowl and lightly whisk the yolks and the egg with a pinch of salt and the grated cheese.
Drain the pasta and throw it in the pan together with the pancetta and continue to fry it for 30 seconds.
Throw the pasta sauteed with the pancetta in the bowl and give it a quick mix before serving.
(remember never to throw the eggs directly in the pan as they will overcook!)
Finally put on spaghetti freshly ground black pepper (as you like)
And now eat the carbonara before it become cool!
(Photo by Trattoria La Pesa 1902 – Milan – All Rights Reserved)
