Spaghetti alla Carbonara
My carbonara recipe that I've perfected over the years.
Servings 5
Ingredients
- 400 g rigatino, pancetta or bacon cubed
- 5 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 200 g pecorino or parmesan grated
- 600 g spaghetti or bucatini
- salt and pepper
- herbs if you aren't using rigatino
Instructions
- Cube the bacon.
- Fill a pot with plenty of water and bring it to the boil. Add salt and the pasta.
- Start frying the bacon. If it isn't fatty enough, add a bit of olive oil. If you aren't using real Tuscan rigatino, add some dried herbs, such as sage and thyme. Add plenty of black pepper.
- In the meantime, mix the cheese and the egg.
- Switch off the bacon a minute or two before the pasta is done.
- At the same time, fill a mug with cooking water from the pasta.
- Drop by drop, add some of this cooking water to the cheese-and-egg mixture until you get a nice runny consistency.
- Add soon as the pasta is al dente, add half of it to the bacon. Pour the cheese-and-egg mixture on top. Put the rest of the pasta into the cheese-and-egg bowl to clean it and add it to the rest. Mix well.
- If it's too dry, add more pasta water. Keep doing this until the consistency is nice and creamy. Serve.
Notes
Real rigatino is full of herbs, so if you're using anything else, you need to add dried herbs to get the same result.
Pecorino is a cheese made from sheep's milk. The consistency is similar to that of parmesan, but the flavour is different.
Don't use cream, garlic or parsley!