Most every Italian trattoria has Spaghetti alla Carbonara on its menu. It's delicious, classic, and nearly foolproof. So why did it take me SO long to figure out how to make it? There's one simple secret. Read on:
The ingredients are the definition of simplicity: spaghetti, diced pancetta (an Italian equivalent of smoky bacon), olive oil, garlic, eggs and pecorino cheese.
Prep your ingredients: Put your pasta water on to boil and when it boils, toss in a goodly quantity of coarse salt before adding your spaghetti. This dish comes together so quickly and needs to be eaten immediately. So, if you're having a salad, or other veg be sure it's prepared and ready to go before you start working on your pasta dish. Dice your pancetta (or bacon). I cheat and buy mine pre-diced. Put your eggs in a bowl and beat them up. Grate a lot of cheese. Smash your garlic clove.
A serving of pasta is considered to be about 2 oz. per person. I then use about one egg per two servings.
With regard to bacon, I probably use about 2 oz per person as well.
With regard to garlic, I'm not sure the Italians use it in this recipe, but I like to flavor my oil with a little garlic.
With regard to cheese......well, I use.......a lot :)
Is your pasta water boiling? Is your spaghetti almost al dente? Let's get started.....
Prep your ingredients: Put your pasta water on to boil and when it boils, toss in a goodly quantity of coarse salt before adding your spaghetti. This dish comes together so quickly and needs to be eaten immediately. So, if you're having a salad, or other veg be sure it's prepared and ready to go before you start working on your pasta dish. Dice your pancetta (or bacon). I cheat and buy mine pre-diced. Put your eggs in a bowl and beat them up. Grate a lot of cheese. Smash your garlic clove.
A serving of pasta is considered to be about 2 oz. per person. I then use about one egg per two servings.
With regard to bacon, I probably use about 2 oz per person as well.
With regard to garlic, I'm not sure the Italians use it in this recipe, but I like to flavor my oil with a little garlic.
With regard to cheese......well, I use.......a lot :)
Is your pasta water boiling? Is your spaghetti almost al dente? Let's get started.....
Drizzle a little olive oil in your skillet and heat it up over medium high heat. When it's warm, toss in your smashed garlic clove and rub it all around in the oil. When the garlic is getting nice and fragrant, turn your heat down a bit to medium and add your diced pancetta. Why do we turn the heat down? You don't want the pancetta to cook too fast and get all crispy and hard. You want to render out the (Watch out! I'm going to use the "f" word.) fat because that fat is so flavorful. Stir the pancetta around so it releases its fat into the olive oil. As the pancetta cooks, you can go ahead and toss out the garlic clove. At this point, you need to be sure your pasta is ready. If it's not, then turn the heat off on your pan until the pasta is ready.
Once your pasta is cooked, make sure your pan is nice and hot again before draining it and adding it into the hot pancetta. Using tongs, toss the pasta about in the pan to coat it all with the olive oil, bacon fat mixture. Working quickly, add in your goodly amount of shredded cheese, and again toss it about. It will melt quickly, so work quickly.
Remember that secret I mentioned above? Here it comes.....
TAKE YOUR PAN OFF THE HEAT BEFORE ADDING IN YOUR BEATEN EGGS!
Yes, remove your pan from the burner, and quickly pour in your beaten eggs. Again using your tongs, toss everything about. Many people think carbonara is so creamy and lovely due to the addition of half and half or cream. This is simply not true. It's so creamy due to beaten eggs combining with the melted cheese and bacon fat. But if you add the eggs while the pan is on the heat, they immediately begin to scramble and your "sauce" gets all lumpy, curdled, and unappetizing looking.
Remember that secret I mentioned above? Here it comes.....
TAKE YOUR PAN OFF THE HEAT BEFORE ADDING IN YOUR BEATEN EGGS!
Yes, remove your pan from the burner, and quickly pour in your beaten eggs. Again using your tongs, toss everything about. Many people think carbonara is so creamy and lovely due to the addition of half and half or cream. This is simply not true. It's so creamy due to beaten eggs combining with the melted cheese and bacon fat. But if you add the eggs while the pan is on the heat, they immediately begin to scramble and your "sauce" gets all lumpy, curdled, and unappetizing looking.
Quickly plate it up, garnish with more cheese and hope everybody is ready to eat NOW. As it sits, it firms up and becomes less appetizing. It truly is one of those dishes that is best consumed the minute it hits the plate. It's creamy with little hits of crunchy saltiness. Oh, so good.
Tonight we had a red wine called Tributary from Russell Creek winery in the Columbia Valley. Delicious!
Buon Appetito!
Tonight we had a red wine called Tributary from Russell Creek winery in the Columbia Valley. Delicious!
Buon Appetito!
RSS Feed
