Best Spaghetti Carbonara
Carbonara is one of those dishes that many people either love or hate. It has a delicate creamy texture combined with the salty pancetta and cheese combination can be delicious. BUT, and this is a very big but … it has no cream in it. One of us is lactose intolerant and, having had a spaghetti carbonara many years ago which had been made with cream, has not eaten it for many years until recently. Now though, with a proper understanding of how it is made, this is a popular dish in our house. If you’ve tried it before and been in the ‘hate it’ camp, why not give it another go using this recipe?
Best Spaghetti Carbonara
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 672kcal
Equipment
- Deep sided frying pan or wok
- Pan for cooking the pasta
Ingredients
- 100 g Pancetta roughly chopped, but with no rind on it
- 50 g Pecorino Cheese finely grated (this is what will take the prep time!)
- 50 g Parmesan Cheese finely grated (this is what will take the prep time!)
- 350 g Spaghetti it must be spaghetti for this, no other pasta will do … and avoid the 'quick cook' spaghetti, it is just wrong!
- 2 cloves Garlic peeled and bashed but still whole
- 50 g Butter
- 3 large Eggs beaten
- Salt
- Black Pepper
Instructions
- Put a large saucepan of water on to boil and add a teaspoon of salt to it. Normally pasta cooking water should almost taste like sea water but it would make the dish too salty in this case
- Mix the beaten eggs with the cheese and set aside. Keep a little cheese back for garnish later
- When the water is boiling add the spaghetti and cook for 1 minute less than the instructions say (you aren't quite finished cooking the pasta when you reach this point)
- Meanwhile, melt the butter in a deep sided frying pan or wok and then fry the pancetta with the bruised garlic for about 5 minutes until the pancetta is beginning to crisp up and go golden. At this point turn the heat to low and discard the garlic – it has done its job in imparting its flavour
- When the pasta is cooked use tongs or a pasta fork (or any other device you like to lift pasta out of the boiling water with!) and drop it into the pan with the pancetta. Don't worry about dropping a bit of pasta water with it, you want this!
- Take the pan off the heat and give everything a good mix. Now add the cheese and egg mixture and quickly toss the pasta in it so that everything is coated. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of the pasta water and give it a mix to keep it creamy and glossy
- Serve immediately sprinkle with the cheese you kept back and a good twist of black pepper. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Calories: 672kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 28g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 10g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 204mg | Sodium: 664mg | Potassium: 328mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 674IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 327mg | Iron: 2mg