Carbonara is a recipe which is very hard to get right. The traditional recipe is based on a egg/cheese mixture (certainly no cream!) which is cooked by the temperature of the pasta, oil and pancetta/guanicale. Creating a silky sauce is tricky, as when the eggs are too hot they tend to scramble which ruins the sauce. If the pasta is too cold, the eggs will not cook and the sauce will be thin and raw.
Cooking the perfect Carbonara therefore takes a lot of practice and experience. The recipe below is based on the traditional carbonara recipe and I believe will take time to master, but once you make the perfect sauce, you won’t look back.
Good luck! If you need any tips or help, contact me on Instagram and I’ll be happy to help!
Ingredients
(Serves 3-4)
A good quality extra virgin olive oil
100g of diced guanicale/pancetta
50g Parmesan/Pecorino cheese (or a mixture of both)
4 eggs (add another egg yolk if you want an extra creamy sauce)
2 large Garlic Cloves, lightly crushed (not authentic, but add if you like the flavour!)
400g Spaghetti/Linguine/fettucine pasta
Freshly cracked black pepper (LOTS)
Sea Salt
Method
- Firstly, place the pasta into salted boiling water
- Next, add the EVOO to the pan, along with the pancetta and the (slightly crushed) garlic, ensuring the oil isn’t too hot as the garlic shouldn’t brown.
- Next, mix together the four eggs, cheese and LOTS of black pepper in a bowl. Beae in mind that the main flavour which should come from sauce is black pepper, so don’t under-do it!
- Once the pancetta is slightly crispy, take the garlic out of the pan and turn down the heat.
- When the pasta is al dente, use tongs to put into the pan with the pancetta and EVOO (allowing a little pasta water into the pan) and coat together.
- Then take off the heat, allow to rest for around 20 seconds to a minute, depending on how hot the pan is – you don’t want it to be too hot, just hot enough that the pasta is warm and coated in the meat and oil.
- Add the egg/cheese mixture and mix fairly vigorously until the sauce forms a silky coating on the pasta. If the mixture is too runny I’d suggest turning the heat on the stove to low and mixing thoroughly, making sure to take the pan away from the heat if the sauce starts to become thick on the bottom of the pan. Mixing throughly should result in an even sauce consistency on the pasta. Add a drop of pasta water if the sauce becomes too thick.
- Place into a bowl, season with more black pepper and salt and serve immediately.
