Gusto Italiano

Spaghetti Carbonara

One of the best pastas from popular traditional Italian cuisine. The name carbonara comes from the wood cutters in the Appenines who made charcoal from wood. They were called Carbonari. They used lard that has now been substituted with butter or olive oil.

Ingredients for 6 serves :

600 g Spaghetti

200 g diced bacon

1 table spoon of extra virgin olive oil

6 eggs

3 table spoons of grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper

Optional - 3 table spoons of liquid cream, 2 table spoons of grated Pecorino cheese

While the spaghetti water is boiling dice the pancetta - bacon in a little olive oil in a large pan. Beat the eggs with a fork. When the pasta is cooked "al dente", strain leaving a little water and pour into pan with the bacon stir and remove from heat. Add the eggs and quickly stir for a minute until all the egg has cooked. Mix in the grated Parmesan cheese and a really good grind of pepper.

N.B. Like all traditional recipes there are many variations. The most common are to use only yolks and add liquid cream when mixing them in. Another is to use Pecorino cheese which was the one used originally by the woodcutters. It is very good with both Pecorino and Parmesan or a mixture of the two.

(mangiarebene)