Yield: 4 servings
Spaghetti noodles love more than just tomato sauce. Here they luxuriously tangled up in a rich creamy sauce made up of egg, parmesan and pecorino cheese and salty pancetta.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound (454g) dry spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 4 oz (114g) pancetta cubed 1 inch (2.5cm)
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) minced garlic
- 2 eggs room temperature
- ½ cup (125ml) freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- ½ cup (125ml) freshly grated pecorino cheese
- Freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup (60ml) minced fresh parsley
- Pecorino shavings for garnish
Method:
Bring a large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add salt and pasta and cook for about 8 minutes or until tender yet firm (“al dente”). Drain the pasta well, reserving ½ cup (125ml) of the starchy cooking water to use in the sauce.
While pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add the pancetta and sauté for about 4 minutes or until bacon is crisp and rendered. Toss the garlic in the bacon fat and sauté for less than 1 minute to soften.
Add the hot, drained spaghetti to the pan and toss for 1 minute to coat the strands in bacon fat. Place eggs in a bowl add the pecorino and parmesan. Stir well to prevent lumps. Remove the pan from heat and pour the egg/cheese mixture into the pasta, whisking quickly until the eggs thicken, but do not scramble (this is done off the heat to ensure that does not happen.) thin out the sauce with a bit of the reserved pasta water, until it reaches desired consistency. Season the carbonara with several turns of fresh pepper. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley and pecorino.
Note: Prepare the sauce while the pasta is cooking to ensure that the spaghetti will be hot and ready when the sauce is finished; it is very important that the pasta is hot when adding the egg mixture, so the heat of the pasta will cook the raw eggs in the sauce.
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