ITALIAN CARBONARA WITH BACON

Spaghetti Carbonara, one of the most famous Pasta Recipes of Roman Cuisine, made only with 5 simple ingredients: spaghetti seasoned with browned guanciale, black pepper, pecorino Romano and beaten eggs.

Carbonara recipe is known all over the world. In the authentic Italian recipe the ingredients are very few and of excellent quality. The high quality of the ingredients is a necessary condition for the success of carbonara recipe.

In spite of many beliefs, the ingredients of the traditional recipe of spaghetti alla carbonara are only 5: guanciale, pecorino Romano, eggs, pepper and spaghetti.

INGREDIENTS:

3 large free-range egg yolks

40 g Parmesan cheese , plus extra to serve

1 x 150 g piece of higher-welfare pancetta

200 g dried spaghetti

1 clove of garlic

extra virgin olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Put the egg yolks into a bowl, finely grate in the Parmesan, season with pepper, then mix well with a fork and put to one side.

Cut any hard skin off the pancetta and set aside, then chop the meat.

Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente.

Meanwhile, rub the pancetta skin, if you have any, all over the base of a medium frying pan (this will add fantastic flavor, or use 1 tablespoon of oil instead), then place over a medium-high heat.

Peel the garlic, then crush with the palm of your hand, add it to the pan and leave it to flavor the fat for 1 minute. Stir in the pancetta, then cook for 4 minutes, or until it starts to crisp up.

Pick out and discard the garlic from the pan, then, reserving some of the cooking water, drain and add the spaghetti. Toss well over the heat so it really soaks up all that lovely flavor, then remove the pan from the heat.

Add a splash of the cooking water and toss well, season with pepper, then pour in the egg mixture – the pan will help to cook the egg gently, rather than scrambling it. Toss well, adding more cooking water until it’s lovely and glossy.

Serve with a grating of Parmesan and an extra twist of pepper.