A recipe by a crazy Roman's friend
We talked about the original Carbonara and how most people can "ruin it" buy adding cream on it, but we did not talk about how to make it differently.
The original recipes requires 3 ingredients in total (guanciale, eggs and Pecorino Romano), 4 if we count the pasta. This recipe require around 7 or 8, but we can guarantee that it will be delicious.
Many years ago, some friends from Rome were visiting me and my family in my hometown in Italy. I know these boys, well now men, since we were kids and we always enjoyed their company, after all Romans are known for their wit and joy of life.
As a thank you for our hospitality, they decided to cook for us lunch one day. So we went grocery shopping together at my father's store and then we headed back home to start preparing lunch for all of us.
The past part was of course seeing them figuring out where every pan or knife was placed in out kitchen, fighting between each other on the quantity, and trying to push my parents (especially my mum that wanted to clean everything as they were making a mess) out of their own kitchen.
Once we sat down and ate the "Carbonara", we stopped talking and ate in silence, enjoying the richness of its flavour.
RECIPE
Ready in 20 minutes
Serves 2 people
Ingredients
- 160 g of Spaghetti
- Half minced white onion
- 2 minced garlic gloves
- Sweet bacon
- Smoked bacon
- 2 eggs
- 2 yolks
- Grated Pecorino Romano
- Pepper
Preparation
- Boil the water for the pasta with some salt (we use Himalayan Pink Salt)
- Place a pan on the stove (better if it is a wok) and warm it up
- Once warm place the bacon and make it crunchy
- Remove the bacon from the pan and add first the onion and make it cook in the bacon fat
- Once the onion is almost done add the garlic and finish to cook them together
- Remove the pan from the heat and add again the bacon
- Once the water is boiling, put the pasta of choice in and cook it for the time indicated on the packages minus a minute or two
- While the pasta is cooking, mix the eggs and the yolks together with the cheese (you should have a very dense cream, the more the cheese the better it is) and lots of pepper
- Once the pasta is "cooked" place it in the pan with the bacon, pour over some pasta water and let it finish to cook in the pan at medium-high heat
- When you feel that the pasta is almost cooked, put the eggs in the pan and turn off the heat and mix it well together
- Serve it with a bit of pepper and more cheese on top
Tips
When the onions are cooking, you could smoke it a little with a bit of some dry white wine
