There's no sincerer love than the love of food.
Recently I've
been asked to cook one of my favorite dishes of all time and it's spaghetti
carbonara. It's not hard as long as you follow these steps and you have all the
right ingredients.
100g pancetta
50g
pecorino cheese
50g
parmesan
3
large eggs
350g
spaghetti
2
plump garlic cloves, peeled and left whole
50g
unsalted butter
Maldon
salt and freshly grated black pepper
1. Put a large
saucepan of water on to boil. Finely chop the pancetta, having first removed
any rind. Finely grate both cheeses and mix them together. Beat the eggs in a
medium bowl, season with a little freshly grated black pepper and set
everything aside.
2. Add 1 tsp.
salt to the boiling water, add the spaghetti and when the water comes back to
the boil, cook at a constant simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until al dente
(just cooked).
3. Squash the
garlic with the blade of a knife, just to bruise it. While the spaghetti is
cooking, fry the pancetta with the garlic. Drop the butter into a large wide
frying pan or wok and, as soon as the butter has melted, tip in the pancetta
and garlic. Leave these to cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring
often, until the pancetta is golden and crisp. The garlic has now imparted its flavor,
so take it out with a slotted spoon and discard.
4. Keep the
heat under the pancetta on low. When the pasta is ready lift it from the water
with a pasta fork or tongs and put it in the frying pan with the pancetta (see
left). Don’t worry if a little water drops in the pan as well (you want this to
happen) and don’t throw the rest of the pasta water away yet.
5. Mix most of
the cheese in with the eggs, keeping a small handful back for sprinkling over
later. Take the pan of spaghetti and pancetta off the heat. Now quickly pour in
the eggs and cheese and, using the tongs or a long fork, lift up the spaghetti
so it mixes easily with the egg mixture, which thickens but doesn’t scramble,
and everything is coated. Add extra pasta cooking water to keep it saucy
(several tablespoons should do it). You don’t want it wet, just moist. Season it
with a little salt, if needed.
6. Use a
long-pronged fork to twist the pasta on to the serving plate or bowl. Serve
immediately with a little sprinkling of the remaining cheese and a grating of
black pepper. If the dish does get a little dry before serving, splash in some
more hot pasta water and the glossy sauciness will be revived.
Enjoy your
spaghetti carbonara!
p/s: Don't
forget to put the extra ingredient in it; love.
